white

Components

Meaning component
bái, bai white

white

Sound component
fān to take turns

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartba[b]ˤarwhite, white-haired
Zhengzhangpaːl
baːl
Unicodebhɑ

說文解字

老人白也。从白番聲。《易》曰:“賁如皤如。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica