痰盂
tán​yú

spittoon

痰 tán phlegm

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 炎 represents the sound.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
炎
炎 Sound component
yán flame

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl'aːm

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

盂 yú basin

Phonosemantic compound. 皿 represents the meaning and 于 represents the sound.

Components

皿
皿 Meaning component
mǐn, mǐng dish
于
于 Sound component
yú at

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthju[ɢ]ʷ(r)aa formation of a hunting party
Zhengzhangɢʷa

說文解字

飯器也。从皿亏聲。

Sources

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