陨落
yǔn​luò

decay

陨 yǔn, yuán fall Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 员 represents the sound. Simplified form of 隕.

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

员
员 Sound component
yuán member

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

落 luò, là fall

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 洛 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸. Alludes to leaves falling from trees.

洛
洛 Sound component
luò river in Shanxi province

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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-Sagartlakkə.rˤak fall (v.)

說文解字

凡艸曰零，木曰落。从艸洛聲。

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)

隕 fall Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 員 represents the sound.

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

員
員 Sound component
yuán member

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 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-SagarthwinX[ɢ]ʷrə[n]ʔfall down
Zhengzhangɢunʔ

說文解字

從高下也。从𨸏員聲。《易》曰：“有隕自天。”

Sources

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