翻炒
fān​chǎo

stir-fry

翻 fān flip over

Phonosemantic compound. 羽 represents the meaning and 番 represents the sound.

Components

番
番 Sound component
fān to take turns
羽
羽 Meaning component
yǔ feather

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpʰan
Unicodepiæn

說文解字

《說文新附》：“翻，飛也。从羽，番聲。或从飛。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

炒 chǎo fry

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 少 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
少
少 Sound component
shǎo, shao, shào few

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsrhaewX[tsʰ](ˤ)r[e]wʔ to stir-fry

Sources

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