蝴蝶花
hú​dié​huā

iris

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

花 huā, hua flower

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 化 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

化
化 Sound component
huà change

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartxwaeqʷʰˤra flower (n.)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart