桑
sāngSāng HSK7

mulberry tree

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approved by inralback19 · Feb 9, 2026, 01:36 AM · Reviewed by inralback19 on Feb 9, 2026, 01:36 AM

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Depicts the leaves of a mulberry tree (木). The leaves from a mulberry tree were the food silkworms would eat.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component

Depicts the leaves from the mulberry trees. Modern form looks like unrelated 叒.

木
木 Iconic component

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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
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-Sagartsang[s]ˤaŋ mulberry tree

說文解字

《說文》：“桑，蠶所食葉木。从叒、木。”

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)