拇趾
mǔ​zhǐ

big toe

拇 mu thumb

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 母 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

母
母 Sound component
mǔ mother

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmɯʔ

說文解字

將指也。从手母聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

趾 zhǐ toe

Phonosemantic compound. 足 represents the meaning and 止 represents the sound.

Components

足
足 Meaning component
zú foot
止
止 Sound component
zhǐ (foot), stop

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyiXtəʔfoot, heel, toe
Zhengzhangkjɯʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica