横说竖说 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

héng across Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 黄 represents the sound. Simplified form of 橫.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

黄 Sound component

huáng yellow

說文解字

闌木也。从木黃聲。

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

shuō speak Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 兑 represents the sound.

Components

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

兑 Sound component

duì, ruì, duó exchange

Change in sound

说 and 兑 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
说 *l̥ot-s
兑 *lˤot-s

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

shù perpendicular Simplified

Original meaning: servant

Based on the original meaning "servant". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

𰀡 Meaning component

qiān to gouge out an eye

豆 Sound Simplified component

dòu bean

Sources

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

héng across Traditional

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

Components

木 Meaning component

mù tree

黃 Sound component

huáng yellow

Character Evolution

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hwæng	C.ɡʷˤraŋ	crosswise; horizontal
Zhengzhang		ɡʷraːŋ
		ɡʷraːŋs
		kʷaːŋ
Unicode	huæng
	guɑ̀ng

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica

shuō speak Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 兌 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

兌 Sound component

exchange

Change in sound

說 and 兌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
說 *l̥ot-s
兌 *lˤot-s

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“說，說釋也。从言、兌。一曰談說。”

Sources

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

shù perpendicular Traditional

Original meaning: servant

Phonosemantic compound. 臤 represents the meaning and 豆 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "servant". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

臤 Meaning component

to gouge out an eye

豆 Sound component

dòu bean

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzyuX	[d]oʔ	palace attendant; young man

說文解字

《說文》：“豎，豎立也。从臤，豆聲。豎，籀文豎从殳。”

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

横 héng across Simplified

Components

說文解字

Sources

说 shuō speak Simplified

Components

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

竖 shù perpendicular Simplified

Components

Sources

橫 héng across Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

說 shuō speak Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

豎 shù perpendicular Traditional

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

héng across Simplified

shuō speak Simplified

shù perpendicular Simplified

héng across Traditional

shuō speak Traditional

shù perpendicular Traditional