簫
xiāo

bamboo flute

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 肅 represents the sound.

Components

⺮
⺮ Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

肅
肅 Sound component
sù pay respects

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Spring and Autumn ~600 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsewsˤiwpan-pipe
Zhengzhangsɯːw
Unicodeseu

說文解字

參差管樂。象鳳之翼。从竹肅聲。

Sources

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

箫 xiāo bamboo flute Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 肃 represents the sound. Simplified form of 簫.

Components

⺮
⺮ Meaning component
zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

肃
肃 Sound component
sù pay respects

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode