灰燕鵙
huī​yàn​jú

ashy woodswallow

灰 huī ashes

Depicts a hand (又) picking ashes left over from a fire (火).

Components

又
又 Iconic component
yòu hand
火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 5 verified)

恢盔诙咴詼

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwojm̥ˤə ashes

說文解字

《說文》：“灰，死火餘也。从火，从又。又，手也。火既滅，可以執持。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫李学勤《字源》p.890
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

燕 yàn swallow (bird)

Pictograph of a swallow.

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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

讌嚥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'enHʔˤe[n]-s swallow (n.)
'enHʔˤe[n]-s feast

說文解字

《說文》：“燕，玄鳥也。籋口，布翄，枝尾，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)

鵙 jú shrike

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwekkʷˤekshrike

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart