理查
Lǐ​chá

Richard

理 lǐ, li reason

Original meaning: cut jade

Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 里 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

Change in meaning
𤣩 hints at the original meaning of 理, "cut jade", which is no longer the most common meaning of 理 in modern Mandarin.
里
里 Sound component
lǐ, li village

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartliXm(ə).rəʔ cut jade; regulate
liXm(ə).rəʔ reason; principle

說文解字

《說文》：“理，治玉也。从玉，里聲。”

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)

查 chá investigate

Original meaning: hawthorn tree

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 且 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "hawthorn tree", now written as 柤. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
且
且 Sound component
qiě moreover
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 且 than it was in ancient scripts.

Component uses

Sound (0 of 8 verified)

渣喳碴楂馇揸猹齄

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsraː
zraː
zraː

Sources

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