蜜蜂
mì​fēng HSK7

honeybee

蜜 mì honey

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 宓 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
宓
宓 Sound component
mì, fú quiet

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmjitmithoney
Zhengzhangmliɡ

Sources

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

蜂 fēng bee

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

insect

夆
夆 Sound component
féng, páng resist

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartphjowngpʰ(r)oŋbee
Zhengzhangboːŋ
pʰoŋ
Unicodebiong

Sources

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