秘
mì HSK4

secret, mysterious

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approved by Peter Olson · Nov 17, 2021, 03:53 AM · Reviewed by Peter Olson on Nov 17, 2021, 03:53 AM

gloss

Changed fields: gloss

Phonosemantic compound. 礻 represents the meaning and 必 represents the sound. Originally written as 祕. The 礻 component was later corrupted to 禾.

Components

禾
禾 Simplified component
hé grain stalk

Corruption of the 礻 component in the original character 祕.

必
必 Sound component
bì surely

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmpriɡs

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.6
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang