脑脊液
nǎo​jǐ​yè

cerebrospinal fluid

脑 nǎo brain Simplified

Simplified form of 腦. Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 𡿺 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

囟
囟 Simplified component
xìn fontanel

Shorthand for the phonetic 𡿺 component in the traditional character 腦.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

脊 jí spine

Originally was a pictograph of a fish spine. Later changed into a phonosemantic compound with ⺼ representing the meaning and 朿 representing the sound.

Components

朿
朿 Sound component
cì thorn, stab
Change in sound
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 朿 than it was in ancient scripts.
⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 4 verified)

瘠嵴鹡鶺

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

嵴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsjek[ts]ek spine, backbone

說文解字

《說文》：“脊，背呂也。从，从肉。”

Sources

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

液 yè sap

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 夜 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

夜
夜 Sound component
yè night

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyekɢrAkfluid
Zhengzhanglaːɡ
Unicodeiɛk

說文解字

𧗁也。从水夜聲。

Sources

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

腦 nǎo brain Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 𡿺 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

𡿺
𡿺 SoundMeaning component
nǎo brain

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnawXnˤ[u]ʔ brain

Sources

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