落落寡合
luò​luò​guǎ​hé

unsociable

落 luò, là fall

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸. Alludes to leaves falling from trees.

洛
洛 Sound component
luò river in Shanxi province

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlakkə.rˤak fall (v.)

說文解字

凡艸曰零，木曰落。从艸洛聲。

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)

寡 guǎ widowed, alone

Original meaning: live alone

Depicts a person living alone in a house (宀). The decorative strokes around the 頁 component corrupted into the unrelated 分.

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component
mián roof
頁
頁 Iconic component
yè (head), page

Used here to depict a person.

◎
◎ Unknown component
characterless component

Originally depicted decorative strokes around 頁. Modern form looks like unrelated 分.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkwaeX[C.k]ʷˤraʔ few

說文解字

《說文》：“寡，少也。从宀，从頒。頒，分賦也，故為少。”

Sources

Character origin
Wiktionary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)

合 hé to join

Depicts two mouths talking to each other.

Components

亼
亼 Iconic component
jí (upside-down mouth), to assemble
口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 22 verified)

给答哈恰拾盒鸽颌蛤龛袷給饸铪閤荅鴿頜龕峇餄耠

Meaning (2 of 5 verified)

会洽翕搿會

Simplified (2)

会仓

Iconic (2)

仓倉

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkopkˤop together; put together; combined
hopm-kˤop come together; bring together

說文解字

《說文》：“合，合口也。从亼，从口。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.438
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)