樂
lèyuèLèYuèlào HSK3

happy, music

← Back to history
approved by Peter Olson · Apr 26, 2021, 06:09 PM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Apr 26, 2021, 06:09 PM

verify

Changed fields: gloss, isVerified, components, customSources

Depicts an ancient wooden stringed musical instrument. 白 represents the sound.

Components

幺
幺 Iconic component

Depicts a string.

幺
幺 Iconic component

Looks like 白 (white), but is originally a variant of 幺 (string).

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 幺 than it was in ancient scripts.
幺
幺 Iconic component

Depicts a string.

木
木 Iconic component

Depicts the wooden base of a musical instrument.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Qin 221-206 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-Sagartlak[r]ˤawk to cure
lak[r]ˤawk joy; enjoy
ngaewH[ŋ]ˤrawk-s cause to rejoice
ngaewk[ŋ]ˤrawk music

說文解字

《說文》：“樂，五聲八音緫名。象鼓鞞。木，虡也。”

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)