huī​xié​zào​méi

grey-sided laughingthrush

huī ashes

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

Components

Iconic component
yòu hand
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)

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

xié ribs Simplified

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Simplified component
lì, li power

Shorthand for the component in the traditional character .

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

zào noise

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
SoundMeaning component
zào, sào, qiāo chirping of birds

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsawHC.sˤaw-sshout
Zhengzhangsaːws
Unicodesɑ̀u

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

méi Simplified

Components

Sound component
méi eyebrows
Meaning component
niǎo bird

bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

xié ribs Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of .

Sound component
xié, liè cooperate, combined labor

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjæpqʰ<r>epflank, side of the body
Zhengzhanghlams
hlab
Unicodexiæp

說文解字

兩𦜶也。从肉劦聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

Traditional

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmril

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang