yào​shǔ​kuí

marsh mallow

yào medicine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
yuē agreement

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

shǔ short name for Sichuan

Depicts a person () raising silkworms (). Refers to Can Cong (蠶叢), the legendary ruler of the kingdom of Shu (modern-day Sichuan), who was said to have been the inventor of silk.

Components

Iconic component
eye

Depicts the eye of a person.

Iconic component
rén, ren person
Iconic component
chóng bug, insect

Depicts a silkworm.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone Western Zhou 1045-771 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 8 verified)

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyowk[d]ok caterpillar; Shu [place name]

說文解字

《說文》:“蜀,葵中蠶也。从虫。上目象蜀頭形,中象其身蜎蜎。《詩》曰:‘蜎蜎者蜀。’”

Sources

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

kuí sunflower

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

plant

Sound component
guǐ 10th heavenly stem

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjwijgʷij mallow

說文解字

《說文》:“葵,菜也。从艸,癸聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

yào medicine Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

is a component form of .

Sound component
lè, yuè happy, music
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyakm-r[e]wk medicinal plant

說文解字

《說文》:“藥,治病艸。从艸,樂聲。”

Sources

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