茹荤饮酒 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

rú roots

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 如 represents the sound.

Components

艹 Meaning component

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

如 Sound component

rú be like

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	nyoX	naʔ	swallow, eat
	nyoH	na-s	scrutinize
	nyoH	naʔ-s	swallow, eat
Zhengzhang		nja
		njaʔ
		njas

說文解字

飤馬也。从艸如聲。

Sources

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

hūn, xūn meat diet Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 军 represents the sound. Simplified form of 葷.

Components

艹 Meaning component

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

军 Sound component

jūn army

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

yǐn drink Simplified

Simplified form of 飲. Pictograph of a person with an open mouth (欠) drinking from a wine vessel (酉). 欠 also represents the sound. The 酉 (wine) component and the open mouth was later reanalyzed as 饣 (eat).

Components

饣 Iconic component

shí eat

饣 is a component form of 食. Used here to depict an open mouth drinking from a wine vessel (酉). Later reanalyzed as 饣 (eat).

欠 Sound Iconic component

qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person bending over with their mouth open.

Change in sound

饮 and 欠 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Sources

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

jiǔ wine

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

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

酉 Sound Meaning component

yǒu wine

Pictograph of a container for wine.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsjuwX	tsuʔ	wine

說文解字

《說文》：“酒，就也，所以就人性之善惡。从水、从酉，酉亦聲。一曰造也，吉凶所造也。古者儀狄作酒醪，禹嘗之而美，逐儀狄。杜康作秫酒。”

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)

meat diet Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 軍 represents the sound.

Components

艹 Meaning component

cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

軍 Sound component

jūn army

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	xjun	qʰu[n]	Allium
Zhengzhang		qʰun

說文解字

臭菜也。从艸軍聲。

Sources

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

yǐn drink Traditional

Pictograph of a person with an open mouth (欠) drinking from a wine vessel (酉). 欠 also represents the sound. The 酉 (wine) component and the open mouth was later reanalyzed as 飠 (eat).

Components

飠 Iconic component

eat

飠 is a component form of 食. Used here to depict an open mouth drinking from a wine vessel (酉). Later reanalyzed as 飠 (eat).

欠 Sound Iconic component

qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person bending over with their mouth open.

Change in sound

飲 and 欠 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
飲 *q(r)[ə]mʔ-s
欠 *[k]ʰ(r)om-s