黍
shǔ

proso millet

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approved by inralback19 · Feb 12, 2026, 11:00 PM · Reviewed by inralback19 on Feb 12, 2026, 11:00 PM

proso

Changed fields: gloss, hint, components

Pictograph of a stalk of 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

Depicts a millet plant with drooping ears.

氺
氺 Meaning component

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

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)