táng​cù​ròu

sweet-sour pork

táng sugar

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
rice
Sound component
táng exaggerate

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdangC.lˤaŋ (no pre-Qín exx)sugar

說文解字

《說文新附》:“糖,飴也。从米,唐聲。”

Sources

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

vinegar

Aged  wine ; wine gone sour

Components

Meaning component
yǒu wine
Meaning component
xī, cuò in the past, ancient times

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰaːɡs

說文解字

客酌主人也。从酉昔聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

ròu meat

Pictograph of a piece of meat.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (5)

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyuwkk.nuk meat, flesh

說文解字

《說文》:“肉,胾肉。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.338
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica