犧
xī

sacrifice

Components

牛
牛 Meaning component
niú cow

ox

羲
羲 Sound component
xī ancient emperor

Character Evolution

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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjeŋ̊ (r)a[j]sacrificial animal
Zhengzhanghŋral
Unicodexyɛ

說文解字

宗廟之牲也。从牛羲聲。賈侍中說：此非古字。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

牺 xī sacrifice Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 西 represents the sound. Simplified form of 犧.

Components

牛
牛 Meaning component
niú cow
西
西 Sound component
xi, xī west

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode