旄
máo

a kind of ancient flag

A flag 方 made of fur 毛; 毛 also provides the pronunciation

Components

方
方 Meaning component
fāng, fang square
毛
毛 SoundMeaning component
máo, mao hair

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmawmˤawox-tail pennon
Zhengzhangmaːw
maːws
Unicodemɑu

說文解字

幢也。从㫃从毛，毛亦聲。

Sources

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