波涛
bō​tāo HSK7

billows

波 bō waves

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 皮 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

皮
皮 Sound component
pí skin
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

婆啵菠

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

啵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpapˤaj wave (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“波，水涌流也。从水，皮聲。”

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)

涛 tāo large waves Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 寿 represents the sound. Simplified form of 濤.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

寿
寿 Sound component
shòu old age

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

濤 tāo large waves Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 壽 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

壽
壽 Sound component
shòu old age

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangduː
duː
Unicodedhɑu

說文解字

大波也。从水壽聲。

Sources

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