歐
ōuōu

Europe

Original meaning: vomit

Phonosemantic compound. 欠 represents the meaning and 區 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "vomit". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

區
區 Sound component
qū area
欠
欠 Meaning component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient
Change in meaning
欠 hints at the original meaning of 歐, "vomit", which is no longer the most common meaning of 歐 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqoː
qoːʔ
Unicodeqǒu

說文解字

《說文》：“歐，吐也。从欠，區聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

欧 ōu Europe Simplified

Original meaning: vomit

Simplified form of 歐. Phonosemantic compound. 欠 represents the meaning and 區 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "vomit". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

区
区 Sound component
qū area
欠
欠 Meaning component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient
Change in meaning
欠 hints at the original meaning of 欧, "vomit", which is no longer the most common meaning of 欧 in modern Mandarin.

Sources

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