贵妃醉酒
Guì​fēi Zuì​jiǔ

The Drunken Beauty

贵 guì expensive Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 㬰 represents the sound. Simplified form of 貴.

Components

㬰
㬰 Sound component
yú, kuì basket
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 㬰 than it was in ancient scripts.
贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Depicts a shell, used as currency in ancient China.

Component uses

Sound (3 of 9 verified)

遗溃馈匮篑聩愦缋蒉

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

馈

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.525-526
Readings & variants
Unicode

妃 fēi, pèi wife

Depicts a woman (女) and a man (卩) together.

Components

女
女 Iconic component
nǚ, nü woman
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

配

Remnant (1)

配

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartphj+jpʰ[ə][j] consort; match

說文解字

《說文》：“妃，匹也。从女，己聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.850-851
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

醉 zuì intoxicated

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 卒 represents the sound.

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
卒
卒 Sound component
zú, cù, cuì soldier, to finish

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttswijHCə.tsu[t]-sdrunk (adj.)
Zhengzhangʔsuds
Unicodetzuì

說文解字

卒也。卒其度量，不至於亂也。一曰潰也。从酉从卒。

Sources

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

酒 jiǔ wine

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 酉 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

酉
酉 SoundMeaning component
yǒu wine

Pictograph of a container for wine.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsjuwXtsuʔ wine

說文解字

《說文》：“酒，就也，所以就人性之善惡。从水、从酉，酉亦聲。一曰造也，吉凶所造也。古者儀狄作酒醪，禹嘗之而美，逐儀狄。杜康作秫酒。”

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)

貴 guì expensive Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 貝 represents the meaning and 㬰 represents the sound.

Components

㬰
㬰 Sound component
yú, kuì basket
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 㬰 than it was in ancient scripts.
貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

Depicts a shell, used as currency in ancient China.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Warring States 475-221 BC
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 Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 7 verified)

遺饋聵匱潰蕢簣

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

饋

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjw+jHkuj-s precious; expensive

說文解字

《說文》：“，物不賤也。从貝，臾聲。臾，古文蕢。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.525-526
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)