火尾太阳鸟
huǒ​wěi​tài​yáng​niǎo

fire-tailed sunbird

火 huǒ fire

Pictograph of fire.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (29 of 121 verified)

炮烟炸灯烧爆燃赤煤烂炼炉焰煌炭焚烛炒灿燥烤耿灶烁焕熄灼烫炯炕熔煽炳烘炽炫炊荧炬烙烬炙煜炖焙烽灸燎焊煊熠熵烯烷炀燔熨烨燧烩煨炜煲焓烃烊炔焖焱熘炝炷熳煅煸焐焯炅煳燹炱炻煺爨燠烀爝燙爌燻燈烴煥煙焗炤焌炆燴齌燬烕燜焢燭煬燼烜畑熾尞爐燉煆熜煉燒爛熒熰燦

Iconic (14)

光票灭秋烦灰炎灾尉叟堇炏災煩

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

伙狄钬爍

Simplified (1)

灵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxwaX[qʷʰ]ˤəjʔ fire

說文解字

《說文》：“火，燬也。南方之行，炎而上，象形。”

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)

尾 wěi tail

Depicts fur (毛) protruding from the posterior of a person (尸) wearing a decorative tail.

Components

尸
尸 Iconic component
shī sitting person

Depicts a person sitting or squatting.

毛
毛 Iconic component
máo, mao hair

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Meaning (3 of 4 verified)

属屈艉屬

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

犀娓艉

Remnant (1)

屈

Iconic (1)

隶

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmj+jX[m]əjʔ tail

說文解字

《說文》：“尾，微也。从到毛在尸後。古人或飾系尾，西南夷亦然。”

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)

太 tài, tai very

Addition of a dot to 大 (dà; big) to mean "very" or "extremely".

Components

大
大 SoundMeaning component
dà, dài big
Change in sound
丶
丶 Distinguishing component
zhǔ dot

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 7 verified)

态汰钛肽呔酞鈦

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthajHl̥ˤa[t]-s great

說文解字

《說文》：“泰，滑也。从廾，从水，大聲。夳，古文泰。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.800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)

阳 yáng light Simplified

The traditional characters 陰 (Yin) and 陽 (Yang) were simplified to 阴 and 阳. In Chinese philosophy, the moon (月) corresponds to Yin (阴) and the sun (日) corresponds to Yang (阳).

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

日
日 Simplified component
rì sun

Simplified from the traditional 陽. Used here since the sun corresponds to the 'Yang' of 'Yin and Yang' in Chinese philosophy.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

鸟 niǎo bird Simplified

Simplified form of 鳥. Pictograph of a bird.

Component uses

Meaning (6 of 74 verified)

鸡鸣鸿鹏鹰鸭鹅鸦鹤鸽莺鹃鸥鸠鹦鹊鹉鸳枭鹳鸯鹞鹄鸵鹑鹫鹭鸬鹗鹌鹘鹬鸢鸨鸪鹜鹚鸩鸹凫鹕鹧鸷鹩鹆鹂鹨鸱鹁鸫鸶鹈鹱鹪鸺鹮鸲鸸鹇鹣鹋鹛鸮鸻鹎鸰鹡鹍鹒鸧鹙鹠鹴鹔

Sound (2 of 5 verified)

岛袅鸾茑鸻

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

陽 yáng light Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 昜 represents the sound.

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

昜
昜 SoundMeaning component
yáng bright

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyanglaŋ bright

說文解字

高、明也。从𨸏昜聲。

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)

鳥 niǎo bird Traditional

Pictograph of a bird.

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 Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (11 of 77 verified)

焉鵰鶇鳴鷉鸊鶺鴿鴣鴦鵲鷹鴨鷲鴟鶚鷫鳳鵂鴉鴰鴻鶊鷿鵬鴂鸘鳩鳶鴴鵝鶓鶩鶴鴞鵪鷦鷺鴒鷙鸕鵜梟鴔鵑鶉鵯鴈鷂鶯鴛鷗鸚鶖鵡鵠鶼鷯鷀鷄鳧鴆鴕鵾鶘鶬鸝䴉鵒鷈鴇鴯鶻鷸鶹鷓鵓

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

鴴島裊鸞

Remnant (2)

焉裊

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttewXtˤiwʔ bird

說文解字

《說文》：“鳥，長尾禽緫名也。象形，鳥之足似匕，从匕。”

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)