bái​kuàng​què​méi

Nepal fulvetta

bái, bai white

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts a thumb or a person's face.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbaekbˤrak white

說文解字

《說文》:“白,西方色也。陰用事,物色白。从入合二。二,陰數。,古文白。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.625漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

kuàng eye socket

Components

Meaning component
eye

eye

Sound component
kuāng, wāng correct

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰʷaŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

què sparrow

Pictograph of a sparrow.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjak[ts]ewk sparrow

說文解字

《說文》:“雀,依人小鳥也。从小、隹。讀與爵同。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

méi Simplified

Components

Sound component
méi eyebrows
Meaning component
niǎo bird

bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

Traditional

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmril

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang