诡秘
guǐ​mì

furtive

诡 guǐ deceive Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 危 represents the sound. Simplified form of 詭.

Components

讠
讠 Meaning component
yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

危
危 Sound component
wēi dangerous

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

秘 mì secret, mysterious Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 礻 represents the meaning and 必 represents the sound. Originally written as 祕. The 礻 component was later corrupted to 禾.

Components

禾
禾 Simplified component
hé grain stalk

Corruption of the 礻 component in the original character 祕.

必
必 Sound component
bì surely

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmpriɡs

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.6
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

詭 guǐ deceive Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 危 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
危
危 Sound component
wēi dangerous

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkjweX[k](r)ojʔperverse
Zhengzhangkrolʔ

說文解字

責也。从言危聲。

Sources

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

祕 mì, bì secret, mysterious Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 礻 represents the meaning and 必 represents the sound.

Components

礻
礻 Meaning component
shì show

礻 is a component form of 示.

必
必 Sound component
bì surely

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

說文解字

《說文》：“祕，神也。从示，必聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)