蝴蝶琴
hú​dié​qín

dulcimer

蝴 hú butterfly

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
胡
胡 Sound component
hú beard

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangɡaː
Unicodeho

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

蝶 dié butterfly

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 枼 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蜨.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
枼
枼 Sound component
yè leaf

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdeplˤephu-dep: butterfly
Zhengzhangl̥ʰeːb
l'eːb
Unicodetep
dhep

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

琴 qín Chinese lute or guitar

The top component is a pictograph of a zither-like stringed musical instrument. 今 is a sound component.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Pictograph of a stringed musical instrument similar to a zither.

今
今 Sound component
jīn now

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgim[C.ɢ](r)[ə]m lute

說文解字

《說文》：“琴，禁也。神農所作。洞越，練朱五弦，周加二弦。象形。”

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)