故弄玄虚
gù​nòng​xuán​xū

mystify

故 gù incident, happening, cause

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

Components

古
古 Sound component
gǔ old
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuHkˤa(ʔ)-s fact; reason
kuHkˤaʔ-s old (not new)

說文解字

《說文》：“故，使為之也。从攴，古聲。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.250
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

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)

玄 xuán, xuàn black

Originally the same character as 幺. Similar to 幺, with an distinguishing mark at the top.

Components

亠
亠 Distinguishing component
tóu head
幺
幺 Iconic component
yāo tiny

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 10 verified)

畜弦眩舷炫铉泫痃牽鉉

Iconic (2)

鲧鯀

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwen[ɢ]ʷˤi[n] dark

說文解字

《說文》：“玄，幽遠也。黑而有赤色者為玄。象幽而入覆之也。，古文玄。”

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)

虚 xū void, false Simplified

Simplified form of 虛. Phonosemantic compound. 虍 represents the sound and 丘 represents the meaning.

Components

虍
虍 Sound component
hū tiger
业
业 Simplified component
yè profession

Shorthand for the 丘 component in the traditional character 虛.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

墟嘘觑魖歔覷

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

虛 xū void, false Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 虍 represents the sound and 丘 represents the meaning.

Components

虍
虍 Sound component
hū tiger
丘
丘 Meaning component
qiū hill
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 丘 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

噓

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhjoC.qʰ(r)a hill, mound; abandoned city
xjoqʰ(r)a empty

說文解字

《說文》：“虛，大丘也。崐崘丘謂之崐崘虛，古者九夫為井，四井為邑，四邑為丘，丘謂之虛。从丘，虍聲。”

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)