蝙蝠侠
Biān​fú​xiá

Batman

蝙 biān bat

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
扁
扁 Sound component
biǎn flat

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpeːn
Unicodeben

說文解字

蝙蝠也。从虫扁聲。

Sources

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

蝠 fú kind of bat

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
畐
畐 Sound component
fú, bì to fill

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangpɯɡ
Unicodebiuk

說文解字

蝙蝠，服翼也。从虫畐聲。

Sources

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

侠 xiá chivalrous person Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 夹 represents the sound. Simplified form of 俠.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

夹
夹 Sound component
jiā, jiá be wedged or inserted between, pressed from two sides

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

俠 chivalrous person Traditional

Someone 亻 who supports 夾 others; 夾 also provides the pronunciation

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person
夾
夾 SoundMeaning component
jiā, jiá be wedged or inserted between, pressed from two sides

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡeːb
Unicodehep

說文解字

俜也。从人夾聲。

Sources

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