wō​hé

vortex core

swirl Simplified

A mouth  made of water 

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
Meaning component
guō, wāi, hé chat

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

seed, kernel, core

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
tree
Sound component
hài, jiē 12th terrestrial branch

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartheak[g]ˤ<r>ək kernel fruit; scrutinize

說文解字

《說文》:“核,蠻夷以木皮為篋,狀如籨尊。从木,亥聲。”

Sources

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

swirl Traditional

A mouth  made of water 

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
Meaning component
chat

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkloːl
qloːl
Unicodeguɑ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang