配伍
pèi​wǔ

blend medicines

配 pèi match

Original meaning: mix wine

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and a remnant of 妃 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "mix wine". The meaning later shifted to "match".

Components

酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine
妃
妃 SoundRemnant component
fēi, pèi wife

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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-SagartphwojHpʰˤ[ə][j]-s counterpart; be the counterpart of

說文解字

《說文》：“配，酒色也。从酉，己聲。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.984
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

伍 wu five

Five 五 people 亻; 五 also provides the pronunciation

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person
五
五 SoundMeaning component
wǔ five

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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-SagartnguXC.ŋˤaʔgroup of five
Zhengzhangŋaːʔ

說文解字

相參伍也。从人从五。

Sources

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