捣弄
dǎo​nòng

fiddling

捣 dǎo hull Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 岛 represents the sound. Simplified form of 搗.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

岛
岛 Sound component
dǎo island

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

弄 nòng fiddle with

Depicts a pair of hands (廾) playing with a jade object (玉).

Components

玉
玉 Iconic component
yù jade
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartluwngH[r]ˤoŋ-s manipulate, play with

說文解字

《說文》：“弄，玩也。从廾持玉。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

搗 dǎo hull Traditional

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

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

島
島 Sound component
dǎo island

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtaːwʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang