ruò​guǒ

if

ruò if

Original meaning: conform, obey

Pictograph of a kneeling person smoothing out their unkempt hair with their hands. Based on the original meaning "conform, obey". The (mouth) component was added later when the character became more abstract.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts unkempt hair.

𠂇
𠂇 Iconic component
zuǒ left hand

Depicts a hand smoothing out the hair.

Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 8 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyaknak you
nyaknak agree

說文解字

《說文》:“若,擇菜也。从艸、右。右,手也。一曰杜若,香艸。”

Sources

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

guǒ fruit

Pictograph of fruit growing on a tree.

Components

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts fruit. Unrelated to the visually similar character (field).

Iconic component
tree

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 4 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkwaX[k]ˤo[r]ʔ fruit; result

說文解字

《說文》:“果,木實也。象果形在木之上。”

Sources

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