huǒ​xī​yì

salamander

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

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

lizard

Components

Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

worm

Sound component
to separate

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangseːɡ

說文解字

蜥易也。从虫析聲。

Sources

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

yì, xí lizard

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
Sound component
easy

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyekleklizard
Zhengzhangleɡ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang