猜谜
cāi​mí HSK7

guess

猜 cāi guess

Original meaning: viciously resent

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound. Meanings derived from resentful suspicion.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭(dog, animal) signifies animalistic sentiment.

Change in meaning
犭 hints at the original meaning of 猜, "viciously resent", which is no longer the most common meaning of 猜 in modern Mandarin.
青
青 Sound component
qīng green or blue
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“猜，恨賊也。从犬，青聲。”

Sources

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

谜 mí, mèi riddle Simplified

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech
迷
迷 Sound component
mí get lost, go astray

Sources

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

謎 riddle Traditional

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
迷
迷 Sound component
mí get lost, go astray

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmiː
miːs

說文解字

《說文新附》：“謎，隱語也。从言、迷，迷亦聲。”

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)