牛蛙
niú​wā

bullfrog

牛 niú cow

Pictograph of the head of a cow.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (5 of 28 verified)

物特件牧牲牺犁犀犊犟犄犒牝牦牯犍荦牾犋犏牿犢犪牴犂犎牸犧

Iconic (7)

解半牵牢牟牡牽

Sound (1)

疑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjuw[ŋ]ʷə (< uvular?)ox

說文解字

《說文》：“牛，大牲也，牛件也。件，事理也。象角頭三，封尾之形。”

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)

蛙 wā frog

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 圭 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鼃.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
圭
圭 Sound component
guī jade pointed at top

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'waeqʷˤre (MC -ae for -ea)frog
'weaqʷˤrefrog
hwaem-qʷˤre (MC -ae for -ea)frog
hweam-qʷˤrefrog
Zhengzhangqʷraː
qʷreː
Unicodequa

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang