贺卡
hè​kǎ HSK5

greeting card

贺 hè congratulate Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 加 represents the sound. Simplified form of 賀.

Components

加
加 Sound component
jiā add
Change in sound
贝
贝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

卡 kǎ stuck

Origin unclear, but typically explained as being stuck between something above (上) and something below (下). The uses of 卡 to mean "card" or "calorie" are foreign phonetic loans.

Components

上
上 Iconic component
shàng, shang up
下
下 Iconic component
xià, xia under

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

咔胩佧

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

賀 hè congratulate Traditional

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

Components

加
加 Sound component
jiā add
Change in sound
貝
貝 Meaning component
bèi sea shell

In ancient China shells were used as currency.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthaHm-kˤaj-s congratulate

說文解字

《說文》：“賀，以禮相奉慶也。从貝，加聲。”

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)