黍
shǔ

proso millet

Pictograph of a stalk of proso millet with drooping ears. The 氺 (water) component was added later to possibly indicate that this specific type of grain is used to brew wine.

Components

禾
禾 Iconic component
hé grain stalk

Depicts a proso millet plant with drooping ears.

氺
氺 Meaning component
shuǐ water

氺 is a component form of 水.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Western Zhou 1045-771 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

黎黏

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyoXs-tʰaʔ Panicum miliaceum, glutinous

說文解字

《說文》：“黍，禾屬而黏者也。以大暑而穜，故謂之黍。从禾，雨省聲。孔子曰：黍可為酒，禾入水也。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.578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)