炸药奖
Zhà​yào​jiǎng

Nobel Prize

炸 zhà to fry in oil, explode

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 乍 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
乍
乍 Sound component
zhà, zuò suddenly

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔr'aːɡs
zreːb

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

药 yào medicine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 约 represents the sound. Simplified form of 藥.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

约
约 Sound component
yuē agreement

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

奖 jiǎng prize, encouragement Simplified

Simplified form of 獎. Phonosemantic compound. 犬 represents the meaning and 將 represents the sound.

Components

将
将 SoundRemnant component
jiāng, jiàng will
大
大 Simplified component
dà, dài big

Shorthand for the 犬 component in the traditional character 獎.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

藥 yào medicine Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 樂 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

樂
樂 Sound component
lè, yuè happy, music
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyakm-r[e]wk medicinal plant

說文解字

《說文》：“藥，治病艸。从艸，樂聲。”

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)

獎 jiǎng prize, encouragement Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 犬 represents the meaning and 將 represents the sound.

Components

將
將 Sound component
jiāng, jiàng take
犬
犬 Meaning component
quǎn dog

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsaŋʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“，嗾犬厲之也。从犬，將省聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)