珊瑚
shān​hú

coral

珊 shān coral

Phonosemantic compound. 王 represents the meaning and 册 represents the sound.

Components

王
王 Meaning component
wáng king
册
册 Sound component
cè book

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangslaːn
Unicodesɑn

說文解字

珊瑚，色赤，生於海，或生於山。从玉，刪省聲。

Sources

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

瑚 hú coral

Phonosemantic compound. 王 represents the meaning and 胡 represents the sound.

Components

王
王 Meaning component
wáng king
胡
胡 Sound component
hú beard

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡaː
Unicodeho

說文解字

珊瑚也。从玉胡聲。

Sources

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