放哨
fàng​shào

keep watch

放 fàng put

Phonosemantic compound. 攵 represents the meaning and 方 represents the sound.

Components

方
方 Sound component
fāng, fang square
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴. Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjangXpaŋʔ imitate
pjangHpaŋ-s release; let go

說文解字

《說文》：“放，逐也。从攴，方聲。”

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)

哨 shào whistle

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 肖 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
肖
肖 Sound component
xiào look like

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsreːws
sʰews
sew

說文解字

不容也。从口肖聲。

Sources

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