jiūJiū

bending branches

Branches  bowing in the wind  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
tree
SoundMeaning component
liù, lù to sweep away, to remove

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjiwk-riw (dialect: *k-r- > *kr-)down-curving (branch)
kjiwk-riw (dialect: > *k-r- > *kr-)twist (v.)
Zhengzhangkrɯw
Unicodegiəu

說文解字

下句曰樛。从木翏聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica