蜥蜴
xī​yì

lizard

蜥 xī lizard

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

worm

析
析 Sound component
xī to separate

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangseːɡ

說文解字

蜥易也。从虫析聲。

Sources

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

蜴 yì, xí lizard

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
易
易 Sound component
yì easy

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartyekleklizard
Zhengzhangleɡ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang