碑碣
bēi​jié

stele

碑 bēi stone tablet

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 卑 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
卑
卑 Sound component
bēi humble, inferior

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartpjeprestele; upright pole of stone or wood
Zhengzhangpre
Unicodebyɛ

說文解字

豎石也。从石卑聲。

Sources

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

碣 jié, kě, yà stone tablet

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone

stone

曷
曷 Sound component
hé, è, hè why? what? where?

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡrad
ɡad
Unicodeghiæt
ghiɛt

說文解字

特立之石。東海有碣石山。从石曷聲。

Sources

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