租
zū HSK2

rent

Original meaning: land tax

Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 且 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "land tax". The meaning later shifted to "rent" and "hire".

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk
且
且 Sound component
qiě moreover
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsaː
Unicodetzo

說文解字

《說文》:“租,田賦也。从禾,且聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica