爽脆
shuǎng​cuì

crisp

爽 shuǎng refreshing, clear, happy

Original meaning: match, pair

Depicts a person (大) carrying things (爻) under each arm. Based on the original meaning "match, pair".

Components

大
大 Iconic component
dà, dài big

Depicts a person.

Change in meaning
大 hints at the original meaning of 爽, "match, pair", which is no longer the most common meaning of 爽 in modern Mandarin.
爻
爻 Iconic component
yáo, xiào diagrams for divination

Depicts a thing carried under the arm.

爻
爻 Iconic component
yáo, xiào diagrams for divination

Depicts a thing carried under the arm.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 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

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“爽，明也。从，从大。，篆文爽。”

Sources

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

脆 cuì crisp

Something dangerous 危 to one's flesh ⺼

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh
危
危 Meaning component
wēi dangerous

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshjwejH[tsʰ]o[t]-sbrittle
Zhengzhangsʰods
Unicodetsiuɛ̀i

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang