董
dǒngDǒng HSK7

supervise

Original meaning: type of plant

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

Change in meaning
艹 hints at the original meaning of 董, "type of plant", which is no longer the most common meaning of 董 in modern Mandarin.
重
重 Sound component
zhòng, chóng heavy

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

懂

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtoːŋʔ
Unicodedǔng

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica