搔
sāo

to scratch

To scratch 扌 a flea bite 蚤; 蚤 also provides the pronunciation

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand
蚤
蚤 SoundMeaning component
zǎo, zhǎo flea

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsaws-[ts]ˤuscratch (v.)
Zhengzhangsuː
Unicodesɑu

說文解字

括也。从手蚤聲。

Sources

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