核酸
hé​suān

nucleic acid test

核 hé seed, kernel, core

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 亥 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
亥
亥 Sound component
hài, jiē 12th terrestrial branch

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartheak[g]ˤ<r>ək kernel fruit; scrutinize

說文解字

《說文》：“核，蠻夷以木皮為篋，狀如籨尊。从木，亥聲。”

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)

酸 suān sour, tart

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 夋 represents the sound.

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
夋
夋 Sound component
qūn to dawdle

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartswan[s]ˤor sour

說文解字

《說文》：“酸，酢也。从酉，夋聲。關東謂酢曰酸。，籀文酸从畯。”

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)