杠杆收购
gàng​gǎn​shōu​gòu

leveraged buyout

杠 gàng lever

A wooden 木 lever 工; 工 also provides the pronunciation

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
工
工 SoundMeaning component
gōng work

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkroːŋ

說文解字

牀前橫木也。从木工聲。

Sources

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

杆 gān, gǎn pole

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 干 represents the sound. Simplified form of 桿.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
干
干 Sound component
gàn, gān interfere

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkaːns
Unicodegɑn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

收 shōu gather together

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

Components

丩
丩 Sound component
jiū join
攵
攵 Meaning component
pū tap

攵 is a component form of 攴.

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyuws-kiw collect; harvest

說文解字

《說文》：“收，捕也。从攴，丩聲。”

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)

购 gòu buy Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 勾 represents the sound. Simplified form of 購.

Components

贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

勾
勾 Sound component
gōu hook

Sources

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

購 gòu buy Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 冓 represents the sound.

Components

貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

冓
冓 Sound component
gòu, gōu a secluded place

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkuwHkˤ(r)o-s present (v.), give

說文解字

《說文》：“購，以財有所求也。从貝，冓聲。”

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)