gǔ​dì

objective

gǔ, hú, hè target Simplified

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

Components

Meaning component
niǎo bird
Sound component
gào tell

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

de, dì, dí [possessive]

Original meaning: bright

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. The character is based on the original meaning "bright".

Components

Meaning component
bái, bai white
Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "bright", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
sháo, shuò, zhuó spoon
Change in sound

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-Sagarttek[t-l]ˤewk bright; mark in a target

說文解字

《說文》:“旳,明也。从日,勺聲。《易》曰:‘為的顙。’”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

target Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
niǎo bird
Sound component
gào tell

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkuːɡ
ɡuːɡ
Unicodehok

說文解字

鴻鵠也。从鳥告聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica