葬玉埋香
zàng​yù​mái​xiāng

burying a beauty

葬 zàng bury

Depicts burying a dead body (死) beneath the grass (茻).

Components

茻
茻 Iconic component
mǎng, mǔ vegetation, overgrown weeds

Bottom part looks like unrelated 廾.

死
死 Iconic component
sǐ die

Used here to depict a dead body.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
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 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 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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

髒

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsangH[ts]ˤaŋ-s bury

說文解字

《說文》：“葬，藏也。从死在茻中。一其中，所以薦之。《易》曰：‘古之葬者，厚衣之以薪。’”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫zi.tools
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

玉 yù jade

Pictograph of a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string. A dot was later added to 玉 to distinguish it from 王 (king).

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string.

丶
丶 Distinguishing component
zhǔ dot

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 Shang ~1100 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
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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

Meaning (2 of 8 verified)

莹璧玺钰璺鈺璽瑩

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

国钰鈺

Iconic (3)

宝弄珏

Simplified (1)

国

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjowk[ŋ](r)ok (< uvular?) jade

說文解字

《說文》：“玉，石之美。有五德：潤澤以溫，仁之方也；理自外，可以知中，義之方也；其聲舒揚，專以遠聞，智之方也；不橈而折，勇之方也；銳廉而不技，絜之方也。象三玉之連，丨，其貫也。，古文玉。”

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)

埋 mái, mán bury

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 里 represents the sound.

Components

土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth
里
里 Sound component
lǐ, li village

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmɛjm.rˤəbury
Zhengzhangmrɯː
Unicodemæi

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

香 xiāng fragrant

Represents the sweet (甘) smell of fresh grain (禾).

Components

禾
禾 Meaning component
hé grain stalk
甘
甘 Meaning component
gān sweetness

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

馨馥

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxjangqʰaŋ fragrance

說文解字

《說文》：“香，芳也。从黍，从甘。《春秋傳》曰：‘黍稷馨香。’”

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)