蹭蹬
cèng​dèng

experience setbacks

蹭 cèng to shuffle

Phonosemantic compound. 足 represents the meaning and 曾 represents the sound.

Components

足
足 Meaning component
zú foot
曾
曾 Sound component
céng already

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰɯːŋs
Unicodetsə̀ng

說文解字

蹭蹬，失道也。从足曾聲。

Sources

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

蹬 dēng step on

Phonosemantic compound. 足 represents the meaning and 登 represents the sound.

Components

足
足 Meaning component
zú foot
登
登 Sound component
dēng rise

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtɯːŋ
dɯːŋs
Unicodedhə̀ng

說文解字

蹭蹬也。从足登聲。

Sources

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