one thousand millions

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and 𠂔 represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
grain stalk
𠂔
𠂔 Sound component
to stop

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsijX[ts][i]jʔ a high number

說文解字

《說文》:“秭,五稯為秭。从禾,聲。一曰數億至萬曰秭。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica