雕梁画栋
diāo​liáng​huà​dòng

ornate

雕 diāo engrave

Phonosemantic compound. 隹 represents the meaning and 周 represents the sound. Simplified form of 鵰.

Components

隹
隹 Meaning component
zhuī, cuī, wéi bird
周
周 Sound component
zhōu cycle

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttewtˤiwbird of prey
Zhengzhangtɯːw
Unicodedeu

說文解字

鷻也。从隹周聲。

Sources

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

梁 liáng, liang bridge

Phonosemantic compound. 氵and 木 represent the meaning and 刅 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
刅
刅 Sound component
chuāng to create
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 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 Xin 9-23 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

粱墚樑

Remnant (0 of 1 verified)

粱

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

樑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartljangraŋ beam; bridge

說文解字

《說文》：“梁，水橋也。从木，从水，刅聲。渿，古文。”

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)

画 huà a painting Simplified

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something. The simplified character 画 was adapted from a variant.

Components

畫
聿 Deleted component
yù writing brush
◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a picture being drawn.

Sources

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

栋 dòng main beams supporting house Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 东 represents the sound. Simplified form of 棟.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
东
东 Sound component
dōng east

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

畫 huà a painting Traditional

Pictograph of a hand holding a writing utensil (聿) and drawing something.

Components

聿
聿 Iconic component
yù writing brush
周
周 Iconic component
zhōu cycle

Depicts a carved jade object.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 周 than it was in ancient scripts.
乂
乂 Unknown component
yì, ài mow grass

Upper frame? of the drawing, found in the simplified form and possibly in the variant 𬚪

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 乂 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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

Component uses

Sound (1)

劃

Meaning (1)

劃

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthweaHC-gʷˤrek-s drawing (n.)
hweakgʷˤrek draw (v.)

說文解字

《說文》：“畫，界也。象田四界，聿所以畫之。，古文畫省。亦古文畫。”

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)

棟 main beams supporting house Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 東 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
東
東 Sound component
dōng east

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtoːŋs
Unicodedùng

說文解字

極也。从木東聲。

Sources

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