雖
suī HSK6

although

Original meaning: type of lizard

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 唯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of lizard". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
Change in meaning
虫 hints at the original meaning of 雖, "type of lizard", which is no longer the most common meaning of 雖 in modern Mandarin.
唯
唯 Sound component
wéi only
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartswijs-qʷij although; even if

說文解字

《說文》：“雖，似蜥蜴而大。从虫，唯聲。”

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)

虽 suī although Simplified

Original meaning: type of lizard

Simplified form of 雖. Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 唯 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "type of lizard". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

唯
唯 Simplified component
wéi only

Shorthand for the 唯 component in the traditional character 雖.

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

Component uses

Sound (1)

强

Remnant (1)

强

Sources

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