approvedby Peter Olson · May 17, 2021, 09:21 PM· Reviewed by Peter Olson on May 17, 2021, 09:21 PM
phonetic loan note
Changed fields: hint
Original meaning: become wet
Pictograph of a person standing under the rain (雨), representing the meaning "become wet", now written as 濡. The current meaning is a phonetic loan. The person component was later replaced with the phonetic component 而.
需 and 而 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar
in Old Chinese. 需*s-no 而*nə
Character Evolution
BronzeEarly Western Zhou~1000 BCBronzeLate Western Zhou~800 BCSealWarring States (Chu)475-221 BCSealShuowen~100 ADClericalEastern Han25-220 ADRegularModern
