猫屎咖啡
māo​shǐ​kā​fēi

civet coffee

猫 māo cat Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 苗 represents the sound. Simplified form of 貓.

Components

犭
犭 Meaning component
quǎn dog

犭 is a component form of 犬.

苗
苗 Sound component
miáo sprouts

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmrew

Sources

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

屎 shǐ excrement

Depicts a person (尸) defecating feces.

Components

尸
尸 Iconic component
shī sitting person
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts feces. Unrelated to 米.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyijX[qʰ]ijʔ excrement
xjij[qʰ]ij (dialect: *qʰ- > *x-, no palatalization)moan

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

咖 kā coffee

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 加 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
加
加 Sound component
jiā add

Sources

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

啡 fēi morphine

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 非 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
非
非 Sound component
fēi not

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpʰɯːlʔ

Sources

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

貓 māo cat Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 豸 represents the meaning and 苗 represents the sound.

Components

豸
豸 Meaning component
zhì (dhole), beast
苗
苗 Sound component
miáo sprouts

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmaewC.mˤraw cat

說文解字

《說文新附》：“貓，貍屬。从豸，苗聲。”

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)