菠萝油
bō​luó​yóu

buttered pineapple bun

菠 bō spinach and similar greens

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

波
波 Sound component
bō waves

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangpaːl

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

萝 luó type of creeping plant Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 罗 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蘿.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

罗
罗 Sound component
luó, luō, luo net for catching birds

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

油 yóu oil

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

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

由
由 Sound component
yóu cause

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyuw[l][u] flow(ing)

說文解字

《說文》：“油，水。出武陵孱陵西，東南〔北〕入江。从水，由聲。”

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)

蘿 luó type of creeping plant Traditional

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

羅
羅 Sound component
net for catching birds

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangraːl
Unicodelɑ

說文解字

莪也。从艸羅聲。

Sources

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