lín​chì​mù

Lepidoptera

lín fish scales Simplified

Components

Meaning component
fish

fish

Sound component
lín will-o'-the wisp, phosphorus

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

chì wings

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
feather
Sound component
zhī support, hold up

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyeHs-kʰe-swing
Zhengzhangqʰjes
Unicodeshiə̌

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

eye

Pictograph of an eye.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartmjuwkC.m(r)[u]k eye

說文解字

《說文》:“目,人眼。象形。重童子也。,古文目。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.261-262
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

fish scales Traditional

Components

Meaning component
fish

fish

Sound component
lín will-o'-the wisp, phosphorus

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlinC.r[ə][n]scale of fish or reptile
Zhengzhangrin
Unicodelin

說文解字

魚甲也。从魚粦聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica