shuǐ​luó​bo

radish

shuǐ water

Depicts the flow of water in a river.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsywijXs.turʔ (E dialect: *-r > *-j)water; river

說文解字

《說文》:“水,準也。北方之行。象眾水並流,中有微陽之气也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.795
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

luó type of creeping plant Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
luó, luō, luo net for catching birds

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

bo fortune telling Simplified

Pictograph of a crack on a bone. In ancient China such cracks were used for fortune-telling.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 10 verified)

Iconic (4)

Simplified (2)

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpuwkpˤok divine (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“卜,灼剥龜也。象灸龜之形。一曰象龜兆之從橫也。,古文卜。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

luó type of creeping plant Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
net for catching birds

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangraːl
Unicode

說文解字

莪也。从艸羅聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

bó, bo radish Traditional

Vegetables  that are buried in the ground  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
SoundMeaning component
fall prostrate

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangbɯːɡ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang