鴕

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'aːl): semantic 鳥 (“bird”) + phonetic 它 (OC *l̥ʰaːl).


鴣

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kaː): phonetic 古 (OC *kaːʔ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).


鴦

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qaːŋ, *qaŋ): phonetic 央 (OC *qaŋ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).

Han compound

鴛鴦

鸳鸯


鰲

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaːw): phonetic 敖 (OC *ŋaːw) + semantic 魚 (“fish”)
Possibly a back-formation from 黿 (OC *ŋoːn, *ŋon, “large turtle”) with final -n discarded due to folk etymology (Schuessler, 2007).


驚

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (驚):
* → Japanese: 驚(きょう) (kyō)
* → Korean: 경(驚) (gyeong)
* → Vietnamese: kinh (驚)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreŋ): phonetic 敬 (OC *kreŋs) + semantic 馬, as horses are skittish (easily startled and frightened). However, the phonetic component depicts either a dog sitting or a man kneeling and a hand holding a stick to express authority, hence it adds part of the meaning.
Compare Old Khmer kreṅa (“to fear”), whence Khmer ក្រែង (kraeng, “to fear”), Thai เกรง (greeng, “to fear; to worry”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Within Chinese, cognate with 敬 (OC *kreŋs, “to be respectful; to warn”), 警 (OC *kreŋʔ, “to warn; to be on one's guard”) (Schuessler, 2007). A possible vocalic variant is 兢 (jīng, “to be cautious”).

och-l

What are you afraid of? What is there to be afraid of?

驚咩啫？

惊咩啫？


鰥

From 寡 (OC *kʷraːʔ, “single; alone”) + *-n (“nominalizing suffix”) (Schuessler, 2007). See there for more.


鬧

In the current form, ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 鬥 (“to fight”) + 市 (“market; town”) – noisy.


鵡

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *maʔ): phonetic 武 (OC *maʔ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *măH (“a kind of bird (peacock, parrot)”); cognate with Tibetan རྨ་བྱ (rma bya, “peacock”); compare also Bodo (India) [script needed] (məyra, “peacock”) (Peiros & Starostin, 1996).


鰾

→ Proto-Hmong-Mien:

⇒ Iu Mien: mbiauhmbau (“swim bladder”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bewʔ): semantic 魚 (“fish”) + phonetic 票 (OC *pʰew).
Jacques (2020) reconstructs the Old Chinese as *N-pewʔ in the system of Baxter and Sagart (2014) based on Iu Mien mbiauhmbau (“swim bladder”).


鱉

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ped): phonetic 敝 (OC *beds, *bed) + semantic 魚.

Han compound

Pelodiscus sinensis
Wikispecies:Pelodiscus sinensis

soft-shell turtle (any turtle in the family Trionychidae, especially Pelodiscus sinensis)


鴛

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *quːn, *qon): phonetic 夗 (OC *qonʔ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
Starostin reconstructs Old Chinese *ʔʷar, which he compares to Tibetan སྐྱར་པོ (skyar po, “snipe; woodcock”); both are from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ɣʷăr.

cog

male mandarin duck (when used in 鴛鴦／鸳鸯 (yuānyāng))


養

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (養):
* → Vietnamese: dưỡng (養)

→ Proto-Tai: *liəŋꟲ (“to raise”)

desc

Thai: เลี้ยง (líiang, “to raise, to bring up”)

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *laŋʔ, *laŋs): phonetic 羊 (OC *laŋ, “sheep”) + semantic 食 (“to feed”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-klawŋ (“to guard; to tend cattle; to graze; to be at leisure”), whence Tibetan སྐྱོང (skyong, “to keep; to nurture”), Burmese ကျောင်း (kyaung:, “to look after, tend”) (STEDT).

cog

養小人

养小人

養病

养病

養肝明目／养肝明目

Bǎ zhū yě huán yǔ Wáng jiā, zài zhé xiēxū yínzi gěi tā yǎng nà dǎ huài le de tuǐ.

把豬也還與王家，再折些須銀子給他養那打壞了的腿。

把猪也还与王家，再折些须银子给他养那打坏了的腿。

81st tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "fostering" (𝍖)


行

Characters in the same phonetic series (行) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a street intersection.
Originally symmetric, it has been simplified asymmetrically; the left half 彳 (chì) is widely used as a radical, while the right half 亍 (chù) finds occasional use, and the character can be broken up as 彳 + 亍, though originally it was not a compound.


行

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (行):
* → Japanese: 行(ぎょう) (gyō)
* → Korean: 항(行) (hang)
* → Vietnamese: hàng (行)

→ Khmer: ហាង (haang)

→ Thai: ห้าง (hâang)

→ Zhuang: hangz


鷥

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *slɯ): phonetic 絲 (OC *slɯ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”)


鷖

The wild ducks like to dive; the seagulls like to float.

陸佃 Lu Dian,《埤雅》Piya, late 11ᵗʰ century CE.

鳬好沒，鷖好浮。

凫好没，鹥好浮。

Riding a motley shade gull, hitched to a jade hornless dragon quadriga, I’m suddenly journeying upward on a dust-flown wind.

The Verses of Chu, 4ᵗʰ century BCE – 2ⁿᵈ century CE

Sì yùqiú yǐ chéng yī xī, kè āifēng yú shàngzhēng.

駟玉虯以乘鷖兮，溘埃風余上徵。

驷玉虬以乘鹥兮，溘埃风余上征。


體

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *r̥ʰiːʔ): semantic 骨 (“bone”) + phonetic 豊 (OC *riːʔ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *sri (“to exist”) (Benedict, 1976); cognate with Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-ri(t), whence Tibetan སྲིད་པ (srid pa) and Burmese ရှိ (hri., “to be, to exist”).
Schuessler (2007) derives Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-riŋ ~ s-r(j)aŋ (“live, alive, green, raw”) from this root, yet points out that 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs)'s initial *sr- cluster was retained instead of becoming voiceless /r̥/ as in 體 (OC *r̥ʰiːʔ), possibly owing to re-analysis of *s- as a causative prefix.

cog

進行體

进行体

(Mainland China, grammar) aspect of a verb


餘

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *la): semantic 食 + phonetic 余 (OC *la).

Han compound

餘額

余额

remainder of one's life; one's remaining years

餘生

余生


鵪

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qoːm): phonetic 奄 (OC *qromʔ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
According to Luce (1981), related to Burmese ငုံး (ngum:, “quail”).

Han compound

鹌
䨄
䳺
鶕
𩀂
𪂻
𪃬
𪁟

quail (originally refers to those without spots on feathers)


鱖

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *krods, *kod): semantic 魚 (“fish”) + phonetic 厥 (OC *kod, *kud).


鷗

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qoː): phonetic 區 (OC *qoː, *kʰo) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).


鴞

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɦraw): phonetic 号 (OC *ɦlaːws) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).


鸚

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qreːŋ): phonetic 嬰 (OC *qeŋ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ɣrēŋ (“a kind of parrot”); cognate with Jingpho [script needed] (ukhriŋ¹, “small parrot”) (Peiros & Starostin, 1996).


鯤

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (鯤):
* → Japanese: 鯤(こん) (kon)
* → Korean: 곤(鯤) (gon)
* → Vietnamese: côn (鯤)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kuːn): semantic 魚 (“fish”) + phonetic 昆 (OC *kuːn).
; “fish roe”
; “kun (sea monster)”

Han compound

The size of the kun, I do not know how many thousand li it is.

鯤之大，不知其幾千里也。

鲲之大，不知其几千里也。

(Chinese mythology) kun, a large fish that transforms into a roc (鵬／鹏 (péng))


魯

Possibly related to 鹵 (OC *raːʔ) since the area used to be a salt marsh region (Baxter apud Matisoff, 1995).


館

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *koːnʔ, *koːns): semantic 飠 + phonetic 官 (OC *koːn).

Han compound

廣州十三行的館

广州十三行的馆

(historical) factory (as a foreign trade emporium)


飲

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 酉 (“bottle (of alcoholic beverages)”) + 人 (“person”) + 口 (“mouth (occasionally with the tongue protruding)”) – a person bending over a bottle to drink the alcoholic beverage. The droplets represented drops of the drink or saliva.
In the bronze script, the mouth separated from the body and corrupted into 今 (OC *krɯm), while the rest of the body became 欠 (OC *kʰoms). These two components also acted as phonetic components. These changes were inherited in the seal script, leading Shuowen to interpret this character (㱃) as a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qrɯmʔ, *qrɯms): phonetic 酓 (OC *qʰɯːm, *qlamʔ, *qlɯːms) + semantic 欠 (“yawn”).
In the clerical script, 酓 has been modified to 食 (“to eat”), which is inherited in the current form.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔam (“to eat; to drink”).

inh

饮
㱃
酓
飮
𣲎
𩚜
泔
湆
饮
㱃
酓
飮
𣲎
𩚜
𢳃
𢪪
饮

(dialectal Cantonese, including Taishanese, Yangjiang; dialectal Gan; dialectal Hakka; Min) rice water


鷺

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *raːɡs): phonetic 路 (OC *ɡ·raːɡs) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
Compare Khmer ក្រក (krɑɑk, “species of heron”), Thai ร้า (ráa, “species of heron”) (Schuessler, 2007).


騎

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡral, *ɡrals): semantic 馬 (“horse”) + phonetic 奇 (OC *kral, *ɡral) – to ride horseback
Wanderwort in the E/SE Asian Sprachbund. The STEDT reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *gi (“to ride; to sit astride; to sit (horse)”), and comments that "many of the TB forms seem to be borrowings from Chinese 騎".
Outside Sino-Tibetan, cognates are also found in Hmong-Mien, Tai-Kadai and some Mon-Khmer languages. Benedict (1975) surmises that this is an ancient loan into Proto-Sino-Tibetan from Austro-Tai:
... but these [Tibeto-Burman] forms appear to involve old loans from AT [Austro-Tai] with typical loss of an original medial *w (Thai *khwi ~ *gwi).
while Peiros (1998), Sagart (2006), Schuessler (2007) (who suggests that 騎 (OC gai, “to ride”) is possibly endopassive "let oneself be carried (on the back of an animal)" of 荷 (OC gâiʔ, “to carry”)) and Pittayaporn (2014) think the directionality of borrowing is reversed. The following excerpt is taken from Sagart's review (2006) of Matisoff's book Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman (2003):
The collection of forms under Matisoff's high-vowelled *gyi 'ride' are from TB languages in contact with Chinese (Lolo-Burmese, Qiangic, Tujia): they are best regarded as late loans from Chinese. ... The idea that the Chinese vocabulary of agriculture, metallurgy, horse-riding etc. might contain numerous loans from an early SEA language is simply not to be taken seriously in view of modern Asian archaeology (Bellwood 1997), quite apart from the fact that it makes no linguistic sense (Sagart 1999 for metal names). Yet Matisoff's book is scattered with observations telling the reader that words like 'writing brush' and 'ride' just discussed may well be loans from Austro-Tai into ST (188; 504).
Below lists some cognates for "to ride" found in various languages in this Sprachbund.
* Lolo-Burmese: *gyi ~ dzyi: Burmese စီး (ci:), Nuosu ꋩ (zzy, “to ride; to bear (a rider)”), ꊪ (zy, “to cause to ride”)
* Southwestern Tai: *kʰwiːᴮ: Thai ขี่ (kìi), Lao ຂີ່ (khī), Zhuang gwih
* Hmong-Mien: *ɟej: White Hmong caij
* Mon-Khmer: West Bahnaric *ɟih, Khmer ជិះ (cih), Vietnamese cưỡi
Also compare Proto-Austronesian *sakay (“catch a ride, join a group, ride on something”).
Pronunciation 2 is a Late Old Chinese general purpose derivation from Pronunciation 1 (Schuessler, 2007).

blockquote

... but these 􂀿Tibeto-Burman􂁀 forms appear to involve old loans from AT 􂀿Austro-Tai􂁀 with typical loss of an original medial *w (Thai *khwi ~ *gwi).

cog

(literary) Classifier for soldiers or warhorses.


髮

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *pod): semantic 髟 (“long hair”) + phonetic 犮 (OC *boːd).
However, the original form 𩠙 was composed by 首 and 犬 (according to Takashi Takada 高田忠周, it's the contraction of 犮).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-pu. Alternatively, it may be derived from 發 (OC *pad, “to sprout”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Han compound

頭髮

头发

(figurative) grass and trees (on a mountain); vegetation


鳴

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 口 (“mouth”) + 鳥 (“bird”) – to cry (of birds).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mriŋ (“sound; noise; animal cry”); cognate with 鈴 (OC *reːŋ, “bell”), 笙 (OC *sreŋ), Burmese မြည် (mrany, “to make a sound”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).


鳧

Bestir yourself, and move about, to shoot the wild ducks and wild geese.

The Classic of Poetry, c. 11ᵗʰ – 7ᵗʰ centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

將翱將翔、弋鳧與鴈。

将翱将翔、弋凫与鴈。


麓

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *roːɡ): semantic 林 + phonetic 鹿 (OC *b·roːɡ)

Han compound

(obsolete) official who manages a (mountain) forest preserve


鴿

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kuːb): phonetic 合 (OC *kuːb, *ɡuːb) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).

Han compound

to be failed to show up by someone, to ghost

鴿了

鸽了

(neologism, Internet slang, humorous) Short for 放鴿子／放鸽子 (fàng gēzi).


鬱

Originally ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): A person 大 (now 缶) stepping on another 勹 (now 冖) in a forest 林 – melancholy; depression.
The later inclusion of 鬯 (“aromatic wine”) is because 鬱 was borrowed to represent fragrant herbs or wine flavored with vanilla (“tulip”). 彡 are simply decorative strokes.

郁
鬰
欝
灪
宛
玉
𣠈
𣡇
𣡡
𣡸
𦉚
𩏴

(～水) name for a branch of the Pearl River, including the You River, Yu River and the Xun River in Guangxi, as well as the Xi River downstream in Guangdong


魏

Cao Wei
Chen dynasty
Eastern Han dynasty
Eastern Wei
Eastern Wu
Eastern Zhou dynasty
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Han dynasty
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
Jin dynasty (265–420)
Liang dynasty
Liao dynasty
Liu Song dynasty
Ming dynasty
Northern Qi
Northern Wei
Northern Zhou
Northern and Southern dynasties
Qin dynasty
Qing dynasty
Shang dynasty
Shu Han
Song dynasty
Southern Qi
Southern and Northern dynasties
Spring and Autumn period
Sui dynasty
Tang dynasty
Three Kingdoms
Warring States period
Western Han dynasty
Western Liao
Western Wei
Western Xia
Western Zhou dynasty
Xia dynasty
Xin dynasty
Yuan dynasty
Zhou dynasty

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋɡuls): phonetic 委 (OC *qrol, *qrolʔ) + phonetic 鬼 (OC *kulʔ).
;high
;name of Zhou's vassal state

Han compound

(historical) (～國) State of Wei during the Warring States period


鷹

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qɯŋ): phonetic 䧹 (OC *qɯŋ, “eagle; hawk”) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
This word is possibly related to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-la(ŋ/k) (“bird of prey”), which is likely a loan from Proto-Mon-Khmer *laŋ ~ *laaŋ ~ *laiŋ (“large raptor”) > Proto-Bahnaric *klaːŋ (“hawk”), Proto-Palaungic *klaːŋ (“kite”), Mon လနေၚ် (“kite”), Khmer ខ្លែង (khlaeng, “kite”); within Tibeto-Burman, compare Tibetan གླག (glag, “eagle; vulture”), Burmese လင်းတ (lang:ta., “vulture”), Jingpho lang (“bird of the falcon family”) (Benedict, 1972; STEDT).
This word agrees better with Tibetan སྐྱིང་སེར (skying ser, “eagle; vulture”) if the Old Chinese is reconstructed as *s-ki̯əŋ (Benedict, 1990; Schuessler, 2007); Benedict (1976) reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-kiŋ for this, which Benedict (1990) suggests is the native Sino-Tibetan root.

cog

禿鷹／秃鹰

雀鷹／雀鹰 ― quèyīng ― sparrowhawk

貓頭鷹／猫头鹰

1919, 《新舊約全書：官話和合譯本》 [Mandarin Bible, Union Version], Shanghai: American Bible Society, 以賽亞書 [Isaiah] 40:31:

but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint. [World English Bible]

Dàn nà děnghòu yēhéhuá de, bì zhòngxīn délì, tāmen bì rú yīng zhǎnchì shàngténg, tāmen bēnpǎo què bù kùnjuàn, xíngzǒu què bù pífá.

但那等候耶和華的、必重新得力、他們必如鷹展翅上騰、他們奔跑卻不困倦、行走卻不疲乏。

但那等候耶和华的、必重新得力、他们必如鹰展翅上腾、他们奔跑却不困倦、行走却不疲乏。

bird of prey of Accipitriformes (eagles, hawks, kites, vultures), Falconiformes (falcons), or Strigiformes (owls)


露

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡ·raːɡs): semantic 雨 + phonetic 路 (OC *ɡ·raːɡs).
Possibly a derivative of 落 (OC *ɡ·raːɡ) (Schuessler, 2007) with exopassivising suffix *-s, literally, "what has been dropped".


餅

→ Khmer: បាញ់ (bañ, “cake, pastry”)

desc

→ Lao: ແປ້ງ (pǣng, “flour; starch; powder”)

→ Thai: แป้ง (bpɛ̂ɛng, “powder; flour; starch”)

→ Vietnamese: bánh (“pastry; cake; bread”), bánh pía (“Suzhou-style mooncake”)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *peŋʔ): semantic 飠 (“food”) + phonetic 并 (OC *peŋ, *peŋs); traditional glyph form during Ming and Qing dynasty used to advocate 幷 (as in 餠) based on the influence of Shuowen.

inh

Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(p/b)ljaŋ (“plank; palm; flat surface; wing”)

呢餅帶

呢饼带

(Cantonese) Classifier for video cassettes.


麝

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢljaːɡs, *ɢljaːɡ): semantic 鹿 + phonetic 射 (OC *ɢljaːɡs, *laːɡs, *ɢljaːɡ, *laːɡ).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/ɡ-la (“flesh; meat; deer”) (STEDT; Gong Hwang-cherng, 2002; Schuessler, 2007). Compare Tibetan གླ (gla, “musk deer”).

inh

麝香

麝牛


面

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (面):
* → Japanese: 面(めん) (men)
* → Korean: 면(面) (myeon)
* → Vietnamese: diện (面)

→ Proto-Mien: *ʰmi̯enᴬ (“face”)

→ Vietnamese: miền (沔)

→ Zhuang: mienh

/ᵐben³²⁻³²⁵/

/ᵐben³²⁻³²⁵/

Characters in the same phonetic series (面) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形), A man’s face, with an eye exaggerated, derived from 𦣻. The horizontal stroke was added later. Unrelated to 自.
Etymology 2: Simplified from 麵 (elimination of 麥) as adopted by the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme (《漢字簡化方案》) in 1956.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-mjal (“face”); cognate with Mizo hmêl (“face”), Jingpho man (“face”). 偭 (OC *menʔ, “to turn; to violate”) is probably cognate (Wang, 1982), perhaps its endoactive (Schuessler, 2007).

Han etyl

冇面 [Cantonese] ― mou⁵ min⁶⁻² [Jyutping] ― to lose face; to be embarrassed

(Cantonese, Singapore and Penang Hokkien) dignity; reputation; face


飛

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (飛):
* → Japanese: 飛(ひ) (hi)
* → Korean: 비(飛) (bi)
* → Vietnamese: phi (飛)

Characters in the same phonetic series (飛) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形): a bird flying upwards.
In its modern form, resembles a tasseled 升 (shēng).
* Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bjar ~ *p(i/u)r (“to fly”) → Tibetan འཕུར ('phur), Burmese ပျံ (pyam, “to fly”).
* Proto-Mon-Khmer *par (“to fly”) → Old Mon ပဝ် (pɔ); Proto-Vietic *pər (“to fly”), whereas Vietnamese bay.
Cognate with Old Chinese 翂 (*pɯn, “appearance of birds flying slowly”) and Old Chinese 奮 (*pɯns, “spread wings and fly”).
; “fare”
; “femto-”

cog

飞
𠃧
𮨶
𩙱
𦐭
𦒮
飝

still three more minutes remaining, until it's four o'clock in the morning / left with a couple of cigarettes, and my body is even a tad freezing

zung⁶ jau⁵ saam¹ fan¹ zung¹ zau⁶ ling⁴ san⁴ sei³ dim² zung¹ zing⁶ faan¹ gei² fei¹ jin¹ go³ san¹ zung⁶ jau⁵ di¹ dung³

仲有三分鐘 就零晨四點鐘 剩返幾飛煙 個身仲有D凍

仲有三分钟 就零晨四点钟 剩返几飞烟 个身仲有D冻


齷

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qroːɡ): semantic 齒 (“teeth”) + phonetic 屋 (OC *qoːɡ)


離

→ Vietnamese: lìa

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *reːls, *rel, *rels): phonetic 离 (OC *rel, *r̥ʰel) + semantic 隹 (“bird”) – black-naped oriole (Oriolus chinensis). This sense is preserved in the compound 離黃.
Phonetically borrowed for the sense "to depart".
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g(r/l)aːj (“scatter, sow, dispersedly widely; wide; star”) (STEDT). See 侈 (OC *l̥ʰjalʔ, “extravagant”) for more.


鴻

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡoːŋ, *ɡoːŋʔ): phonetic 江 (OC *kroːŋ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).

liushu

OC *ɡoːŋ, *ɡoːŋʔ

Han compound

鸿
𨾊
䲨/𬷾
𩾯/⿰氵鸟
𪀤
𪅯


龔

Gong Zizhen (Qing dynasty writer and intellectual)

龔自珍

龚自珍


香

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (香):
* → Vietnamese: hương (香)

desc

→ Indonesian: hio (“joss stick, incense”)

Characters in the same phonetic series (香) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
In the oracle bone script, it was ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 黍 (“glutinous millet”) + 口 (“mouth”). The whole character perhaps indicate that millet was used to produce liquor from fermentation which could be drank and/or sacrificed.
In the seal script, the 口 was replaced with the related 甘 (“sweet”). Hence, the most conservative variant is 𪏽.
Currently, the 黍 has simplified into 禾 and the form of the bottom component 甘 has become akin to the unrelated 曰.

Han compound

† - euphemistic; ‡ - usually of the elderly; ¤ - humorous; § - derogatory/disrespectful

(religion) joss stick; incense (Classifier: 束 m; 支)


齡

Characters in the same phonetic series (令) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *reːŋ): semantic 齒 (“tooth”) + phonetic 令 (OC *ren, *reŋ, *reŋs, *reːŋ, *reːŋs) – tooth being associated with age. Compare English long in the tooth (“old”) and don't look a gift horse in the mouth (“(to check teeth for age)”).


默

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mlɯːɡ): phonetic 黑 (OC *hmlɯːɡ) + semantic 犬 (“dog”)


麴

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰuɡ): semantic 麥 + phonetic 匊 (OC *kluɡ).

Han compound

See also: 糱, 糵


雷

Ancient simplification of 靁, which was a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ruːl): semantic 雨 (“rain”) + phonetic 畾 (OC *ruːl).
The Northern Min initial s- may be due to the loss of a pre-initial which might have been a velar considering dialect forms in Henan, Hebei and Shanxi, e.g. Taiyuan Jin 忽雷 (hueh4 lui1) (Schuessler, 2007).
Perhaps from Sino-Tibetan. Compare Mizo râwl (“voice; cry (of an animal); sound”), Tibetan ཁྲོལ (khrol).
;"spoiler"
; "loyalty"

cog

畾
𡈶
𩇓
𤴐
𩂩
𤳳
䨓
𩄣
靁
㗊
𤴑

雷劇／雷剧


黎

Characters in the same phonetic series (利) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *riːl): semantic 黍 (“millet”) + phonetic 利 (OC *rids); however, the semantic component is contracted. A regularized but unused variant is 㴝, while a variant without contraction is 𥣥.
; “black; numerous”
; “Li people”
: Before Song dynasty, 俚 (lǐ) was a more common term.

Han compound

Kassar, who is over 80 years old, has a deep relationship with China; since the 1950s, he has visited China over 50 times, witnessing the development of Sino–Lebanese, and even Sino–Arab, relations.

2017 April 7, 李良勇, 黎巴嫩友好人士任丝绸之路国际总商会荣誉主席

Nián yú bā xún de kǎsà yǔ zhōngguó yuānyuán pō shēn, zì shàng shìjì 50 niándài yǐlái, tā yǐ fǎngwèn zhōngguó 50 yú cì, shì Zhōng Lí nǎizhì Zhōng Ā guānxì fāzhǎn de jiànzhèngzhě.

年逾八旬的卡薩與中國淵源頗深，自上世紀50年代以來，他已訪問中國50餘次，是中黎乃至中阿關係發展的見證者。

年逾八旬的卡萨与中国渊源颇深，自上世纪50年代以来，他已访问中国50余次，是中黎乃至中阿关系发展的见证者。

Used in transcription.
Short for 黎巴嫩 (Líbānèn, “Lebanon”).


鹼

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreːmʔ, *skʰlam): semantic 鹵 + phonetic 僉 (OC *skʰlam).

Han compound

(chemistry, chiefly Mainland China) base (soluble or not)


鵝

→ Guiqiong: wo

/ᵑɡᵘɔ²²⁻²²⁵/

/ᵑɡᵘɔ²²⁻²²⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋaːl): phonetic 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ) + semantic 鳥.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋa-n (“goose”); cognate with Tibetan ངང་པ (ngang pa), Burmese ငန်း (ngan:). However, the final consonants of the proposed cognates are possibly irreconcilable; they could instead be independently coined through onomatopoeia (Schuessler, 2007; Hill, 2019).
Related to 雁 (OC *ŋraːns, “wild goose”); see there for more.

Han compound

domestic goose (as opposed to a wild goose – 雁 (yàn)) (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn)


鮮

→ Vietnamese: tươi

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sen, *senʔ, *sens): semantic 魚 (“fish”) + abbreviated phonetic 羴 (OC *qʰreːn, *qʰljen).
Alternatively, may be ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 魚 (“fish”) + 羊 (“sheep”) – delicious.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *gsjar (“new; fresh”) (STEDT). Cognate with Proto-Tibeto-Burman *g-sar (“new; fresh”), whence Tibetan གསར་བ (gsar ba, “new; fresh”), Rawang angsar (“new”), Drung aksal (“new”), Mizo tʰarᴴ (“new”) (Schuessler, 2007); cognate with Tibetan གསར་ (gsar, “new”), Burmese ဆန်း (hcan:, “new, fresh”) (Hill, 2019).

cog

鲜
鱻/𱈜
䲆
觧
⿰⿱⺈冂羊
𱆮
⿰𩵋羊
鲜
*鱻
尟
赻
*尠
鲜


鯨

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡraŋ): semantic 魚 (“fish”) + phonetic 京 (OC *kraŋ).
Cognate with 京 (OC *kraŋ, “mound; capital; great”) (Wang, 1982).


齋

→ Thai: เจ (jee)

→ Vietnamese: chay

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ʔsriːl): phonetic 齊 (OC *zliːl, *zliːls) + semantic 示 (“god; deity”).

Han compound

(historical) to show one's piety before offering sacrifices and other ceremonies in ancient times, by abstaining from meat and alcohol, bathing oneself and clearing one's mind of distracting thoughts


鬼

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (鬼):
* → Japanese: 鬼(き) (ki)
* → Korean: 귀(鬼) (gwi)
* → Vietnamese: quỷ (鬼)

→ Thai: กุ๊ย (gúi)

Characters in the same phonetic series (鬼) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a kneeling man or figure with an ugly face (甶). The ugly face could be a mask. The lower right “dot” is a small 厶; it is a residual tail that was added later – compare 离. Related to 畏 (variant 𠂽), which originally depicts a ghost standing with a stick in hand.
Compare 異 (“different, strange”), in which the 田 also derives from a face and indicates a mask. Compare also 禺, in which the top component represents either a mask or a monkey's head.
Unknown. May be related to:
* 威 (OC *qul, “to overawe, to terrorise”) with k-nominalisation and endoactive tone B, lit. "the thing which is doing the overawing" (Childs-Johnson, 1995 apud Schuessler, 2007; Baxter & Sagart, 2014), or
* 歸 (OC *klul, “to return”) (Shuowen Jiezi https://ctext.org/shuo-wen-jie-zi/gui-bu?searchu=%E6%AD%B8&searchmode=showall#result; Liezi https://ctext.org/liezi/tian-rui?searchu=%E9%AC%BC%E6%AD%B8%E4%B9%9F&searchmode=showall#result; Carr, 1985 apud Schuessler, 2007), yet Baxter & Sagart (2014) consider this connection, while semantically plausible, to be a folk etymology; as 鬼 (OC *k-ʔujʔ) and 歸 (OC *[k]ʷəj) had different Old Chinese rhymes & thus were likely unrelated.
See also 詭 (OC *krolʔ, “to deceive; peculiar”).

Han etyl

這房子常常鬧鬼。

这房子常常闹鬼。

人之鬼，非人也。

They prepare the ancestral temple (to receive the tablet of the departed), and there they present offerings to the disembodied spirit.

Classic of Filial Piety, circa 475 – 221 BCE

為之宗廟，以鬼享之。

为之宗庙，以鬼享之。

ghost; apparition; spirit (Classifier: 隻／只)

煙鬼

烟鬼

酒鬼

懶鬼

懒鬼

Derogatory name for people with a flaw or vice. -ard

鬼知道！

有鬼人知咩！

Who the hell told you to... → No one told you to...

鬼叫你……

has what use (what the hell use it has) → is damn worthless, is of damn-all use

有鬼用

(mildly vulgar) who the hell; what the hell


高

→ English: Gao, Kao, Ko

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (高):
* → Japanese: 高(こう) (kō)
* → Korean: 고(高) (go)
* → Vietnamese: cao (高)

Characters in the same phonetic series (高) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a tall building. Compare 京, which however is not a Kangxi radical.
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s-gaw (“head”). Compare with Burmese ခေါင်း (hkaung:, “head”). However, 元 (OC *ŋon, “head”) instead is more likely to be related to this Proto-Sino-Tibetan root given its significant semantic agreement (Schuessler, 2007).
Likely allofams are 喬 (OC *ɡrew, “tall”), and perhaps 浩 (OC *ɡuːʔ, “vast”) (although the vowels do not agree).

Han etyl

居高臨下

居高临下


雲

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢun): semantic 雨 (“rain”) + phonetic 云 (OC *ɢun, “cloud”). Originally written 云, with the 雨 radical added to 云 to distinguish from the borrowed sense of “to speak”.
Very few outside cognates exist. Starostin compares it with Mizo vân (“sky, the skies, heaven”) and Karbi inghun (“cloud”).
Alternatively, this is a derivation from a root meaning “to revolve”. Compare 運 (OC *ɢuns, “to move”), 回 (OC *ɡuːl, “to whirl, to circle”) (Schuessler, 2007).


飯

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bonʔ, *bons): semantic 食 (“food”) + phonetic 反 (OC *panʔ, *pʰan).
Compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *puuŋ (“cooked rice”), whence Mon ပုၚ် (pɜŋ, “cooked rice”) (Ferlus, 1988).
Pronunciation 1 is the exopassive derivation of pronunciation 2, meaning "what is eaten" (Schuessler, 2007).

Han compound

(Mainland China Hokkien) egg clusters shaped like rice balls (of some animals)


鳩

→? Proto-Hmong: *ɴquᴬ (“pigeon”)

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵⁵/

/t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯⁵⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ku): phonetic 九 (OC *kuʔ) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-k(r)əw (“dove, pigeon”) (Benedict, 1974; Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Compare Tibetan འང་གུ ('ang gu, “pigeon”), Proto-Loloish *m-krəw², Burmese ချိုး (hkyui:), Proto-Kuki-Chin *khruu.
In some southern Chinese dialects, 鳩／鸠 is pronounced with aspirated initial /kʰ/ due to taboo considerations.

inh

鸠
䲥
𩾛
㞗
𨳊
尻
九

一味鳩反／一味鸠反 [Cantonese] ― jat¹ mei⁶⁻² gau¹ faan² [Jyutping] ― to indiscriminately oppose without reason

(Cantonese, vulgar) unreasonably; lacking in reason


鴨

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qraːb): phonetic 甲 (OC *kraːb) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
Shuowen commented that 鴨 is the colloquial name for 鶩 (OC *moɡs, *moːɡ, “duck”). Probably onomatopoeic in origin. Compare Proto-Tani *ǰap (“duck”).
Another word meaning "duck" in Old Chinese is 鴄 (OC *pʰid), a substrate loanword, possibly from Tai-Kadai or Austroasiatic.
; “male prostitute”

Han compound

GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)

Coordinate term: 雞／鸡 (jī)

(slang) male prostitute (Classifier: 隻／只 c)


鹹

→ Proto-Southwestern Tai: *ɡemᴬ

→ Zhuang: hamz

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡrɯːm): semantic 鹵 (“salt”) + phonetic 咸 (OC *ɡrɯːm).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *hjam (“salty”) or *g-rjum (“salt”); compare Chepang ल्हाम्सा (hlam‑, “salty (not excessively)”), Jingpho jum (“salt”) (STEDT).

cog

鹹菜／咸菜

湯太鹹了。

汤太咸了。


魂

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (魂):
* → Japanese: 魂(こん) (kon)
* → Korean: 혼(魂) (hon)
* → Vietnamese: hồn (魂)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢuːn): phonetic 云 (OC *ɢun) + semantic 鬼.
Cognate with 雲 (OC *ɢun, “cloud”) (Carr, 1985).

Han compound

(religion, folklore) the hun, the soul which goes to heaven, as opposed to the 魄 (pò), which goes down to the earth with the body at death.


齒

Pictogram (象形) – a mouth full of teeth. 之 (zhī) or 止 (zhǐ) was later added on top as a phonetic component.
Unclear. Not related to Tibetan མཆེ་བ (mche ba, “fang, tusk”), which is cognate with 齻／𱌺 (diān, “eyetooth”), but may be the same word as Proto-Min *kʰiᴮ (“tooth”). Another possibility is a derivation from an Austroasiatic etymon; Schuessler, 2007 (p.188) suggests a possible relationship to Khmer ខ្នាយ (khnaay, “tusk, spur”), as Austroasiatic medial /n/ is often deleted in loans.

齿
歯
𠔒
𠚒
𠚕
𡽔
𣥫
𣦋
𣦗
𦥒
𦦂
𦥪

牙齒

牙齿


鷂

→ Lao: ວ່າວ (wāo)

→ Saek: วาว

→ Shan: ဝၢဝ်ႇ (wàao)

→ Thai: เหยี่ยว (yìao)

→ Thai: ว่าว (wâao)

→ Malay: wau

→ Vietnamese: diều

→ Zhuang: yiuh

/jiːu̯²²⁻³⁵/

/jiːu̯²²⁻³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *lew, *lews): phonetic 䍃 () + semantic 鳥.


鱗

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rin): semantic 魚 (“fish”) + phonetic 粦 (OC *rins).

Han compound

鳞
魿/⿰鱼令
䰼/⿰鱼今


麗

Book of Documents
Book of Rites
Chu Ci
Rites of Zhou
Zuozhuan

Pictogram (象形) – a deer with antlers.
Schuessler (2007) minimally reconstructed this word's OC pronunciation as *rêh and considered it a possible allofam of 麗 (OC *rê(k)h) "number" < "what is calculated", exopassive derivative of 歷 (OC *rêk) "to calculate".
麗 underwent this historical semantic shift: from "a pair" (Zhouli), to "mate, companion" (儷) (Zuo), to "paired", to "well-proportioned" (Liji), and finally to "elegant, beautiful" (Chuci) as well as "refinement" (Shu).

丽
𠀙
𠀞
𠧥
𮭶
𮭷
𮭹
𪋘
丽
婯
𡡜
𠪕
䴡

麗祖

麗末

麗史

麗制

Only used in 高麗／高丽 (Gāolí, “Goryeo”) and 高句麗／高句丽 (Gāogōulí, “Goguryeo”).

(Korean Classical Chinese) Short for 高麗／高丽 (“Goryeo”).


鼎

Pictogram (象形) - a tripod, i.e., an ancient bronze vessel with three legs used for cooking or performing ritual sacrifices. Sometimes, it was carved with characters. Also phonetically (and perhaps semantically) borrowed to indicate "to divine" (then written as 鼑 > 貞). See also the original version of 具 and 則.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(m/ʔ)-di(k/ŋ) (“pot; cauldron”) (STEDT).


麥

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (麥):
* → Vietnamese: mạch (麥)

Characters in the same phonetic series (來) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mrɯːɡ): phonetic 來 (OC *m·rɯːɡ) + semantic 夊 (“foot; to walk slowly”); according to Xu Shen, its meaning is "wheat". 來 was the original character for “wheat”.
Several possible interpretations for the glyph:
* This character originally meant “to come”. Because the simpler 來 was commonly used for this (borrowed) sense, its original meaning (“wheat”) switched with 麥.
* 夊 represents the ancient concept that wheat came from the heavens.
* 夊 represents growth of the wheat plant.
Etymologically unrelated to 來 (OC *m·rɯːɡ, “to come”). Schuessler (2007) suggests it is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m‑rə(k) (“buckwheat”) and cognate with Tibetan བྲ་བོ (bra bo, “buckwheat”); also compare Proto-Lolo-Burmese *g-ra² (“buckwheat”). STEDT compares 麥 (OC *mrɯːɡ, “wheat”) to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *bra (“buckwheat”) (provisional).
Starostin (2009), on the other hand, compares 麥 (OC *mrɯːɡ, “wheat”) to Proto-Tungusic *murgi (“barley”), Middle Korean 밇 (milh, “wheat”), Old Japanese 麦 (mugi₁, “wheat; barley”).

Han compound

general term for wheat, barley, oats, ryes, etc.

Short for 麥克風／麦克风 (màikèfēng, “microphone”).

麥克斯韋 麥克斯韋#Chinese

麦克斯韦 麦克斯韦#Chinese

Karl Maka (Hong Kong actor, born 麥嘉尚 (Mak Kar-sheung))

麥嘉

麦嘉

1949, “客途秋恨”, in 廣東大戲考, 廣東播音界聯誼社, page 238:

siu² sang¹ mau⁶ gan², naai⁵ hai⁶ lin⁴ sin¹ zi⁶, wai⁶ jik¹ do¹ cing⁴ gei⁶ neoi⁵, go² go³ mak⁶ si⁶ cau¹ gyun¹.

小生繆瑾，乃係蓮仙字，為憶多情妓女，個個麥氏秋娟。

小生缪瑾，乃系莲仙字，为忆多情妓女，个个麦氏秋娟。


鹽

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (鹽):
* → Japanese: 塩(えん) (en)
* → Korean: 염(鹽) (yeom)
* → Vietnamese: diêm (鹽)

Characters in the same phonetic series (監) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡ·lam, *ɡ·lams): phonetic 監 (OC *kraːm, *kraːms) + semantic 鹵 (“salt”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-rjum (“salt”). The Min forms point to a fricative initial in Proto-Min *ziem (“a white encrustation formed from saltwater or brine”).

cog

盐
䀋
𪉹
𪉩
塩
𥂁
𪉟
盐
醃:Wu

Passwords that are not salted are easily cracked.

沒有加鹽的密碼容易被破解。

没有加盐的密码容易被破解。


首

Sino-Austronesian languages
Warring States

Characters in the same phonetic series (首) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Simplified from 𩠐 (巛 → 丷). Originally pictographic (象形) of an animal with a long mouth and horns. In the oracle bone script, it appeared with or without hair (巛), but 𩠐, the form with hair, was the form that was perpetuated.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-lu; cognate with Mizo lu (“head”). This word has also been compared with Proto-Austronesian *quluh (“head”) (Malay hulu) and Proto-Tai *klawꟲ ~ krawꟲ (“head; hair knot”) (Thai เกล้า (glâao, “hair; head”)), and was used by Sagart to support his Sino-Austronesian hypothesis. Compare 道 (OC *l'uːʔ, “path, road”) (with the same phonetic component) and its relationship with Proto-Hmong-Mien *kləuX (“road, way”).
This word was replaced by 頭 (OC *doː, “head”) by the Warring States period, possibly due to early homophony with 手 (OC *hnjɯwʔ, “hand”).

cog

Classifier for songs and poems. ⇒ all nouns using this classifier


麵

→ English: mee (via Min Nan)

→ Malay: mi (via Min Nan)

Indonesian: mi

→ Mauritian Creole: min (via Yue)

→ Thai: หมี่ (mìi) (via Min Nan)

→ Vietnamese: mì (via Min Nan)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *meːns): semantic 麥 (“wheat”) + phonetic 面 (OC *mens). Originally 麪.

Han compound

湯麵

汤面

wheat noodles (Classifier: 碗 m c; 條／条 m c; 個／个 c)


鴉

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qraː): phonetic 牙 (OC *ŋraː) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka-n (“crow”). Doublet of 烏 (OC *qaː, “crow; raven”) . The Middle Chinese of 鴉 retains the earlier vowel.
Schuessler (2007) disputes Old Chinese reconstructions with medial *-r-, reasoning that 鴉's place among Division II syllables (often from Old Chinese syllables containing *-r-) results rather from archaism which preserves the original vowel's quality.

Han compound

Men eat animals that have been fed on grain and grass; elaphures feed on the thick-set grass; centipedes enjoy small snakes; owls and crows delight in mice; but does any one of the four know the right taste?

Zhuangzi, circa 3ʳᵈ – 2ⁿᵈ centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Mín shí chúhuàn, mílù shí jiàn, jíqiě gān dài, chīyā qí shǔ, sì zhě shú zhī zhèngwèi?

民食芻豢，麋鹿食薦，蝍且甘帶，鴟鴉耆鼠，四者孰知正味？

民食刍豢，麋鹿食荐，蝍且甘带，鸱鸦耆鼠，四者孰知正味？

Withered vines, an old tree, evening crows; small bridges, flowing stream, family houses.

13ᵗʰ century – 14ᵗʰ century, 馬致遠 (Ma Zhiyuan), 秋思 (Autumn Thoughts)

Kūténg lǎoshù hūnyā, xiǎoqiáo liúshuǐ rénjiā.

枯藤老樹昏鴉，小橋流水人家。

枯藤老树昏鸦，小桥流水人家。


點

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *teːmʔ): semantic 黑 (“black”) + phonetic 占 (OC *ʔljem, *tjems) – black dots.

Han compound

They ordered some food and a big bowl of soup.

Tāmen diǎn le yī xiē shíwù hé yī dà wǎn tāng.

他們點了一些食物和一大碗湯。

他们点了一些食物和一大碗汤。


黃

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (黃):
* → Japanese: 黄(おう) (ō); 黄(こう) (kō)
* → Korean: 황(黃) (Hwang)
* → Vietnamese: Huỳnh (黃), Hoàng (黃)

desc

→ English: Huang, Wong, Ng, Uy, Wee, Oei, Ooi

→ Malay: Oey, Oei

→ Tagalog: Ng, Uy, Wee

→ Vietnamese: vàng

→ Proto-Mien: *ʔgʷi̯əŋᴬ (“bright”)

Chi (2010) proposes that 黃 was originally a pictogram (象形) and the original character of 尪 (OC *qʷaːŋ, “a disabled person with a protruding chest or abdomen”). It has been phonetically borrowed for "yellow" since the era of the oracle bone script. He (1998) noted the possible ritual of burning disabled people with a protruding chest or abdomen to pray for rain as mentioned in Zuozhuan. The 口 in the upper part of the bronze inscription of 黃 might be depicting the disabled person's face facing upwards. Compare 堇.
Li (2012), on the other hand, proposes that 黃 was originally a pictogram (象形) and the original character of 璜 (OC *ɡʷaːŋ, “semicircular jade”) as the 口 in the oracle bone script resembles a ring of jade, so the character would carry the meaning of "a man wearing a ring of jade on his chest". The meaning "yellow" is the result of rebus. See also the original version of 周, which represents carved jade.
According to Shuowen, it is both a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡʷaːŋ) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): phonetic 炗 (, “light”) + semantic 田 (“field”) – the color of earth, with 炗 being the ancient form of 光 (OC *kʷaːŋ, *kʷaːŋs, “light”). However, this interpretation is erroneous as 廿 at the top was formed as a result of corruption of 口 in the bronze inscription.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *hwaŋ (“shine; bright; yellow”). Cognate with 光 (OC *kʷaːŋ, *kʷaːŋs, “light; bright”), 曠 (OC *kʰʷaːŋs, “bright; well-lit”), Burmese ဝင်း (wang:, “bright”), Burmese ဝါ (wa, “yellow”).
;“sexually obscene; pornographic”

inh

Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight—Jesus loves the little children of the world. [original English lyrics]
No matter red, yellow, black, white, they are all treasured in Jesus' heart—Jesus loves all the children of the world. [literal English translation]

1985, 耶穌喜愛小孩 (Jesus Loves the Little Children), in 《教會聖詩》 (Hymns for God's People)

Wúlùn hóng huáng hēi bái zhǒng, dōu shì Yēsū xīn bǎobèi, Yēsū xǐ'ài shìshàng suǒyǒu de xiǎohái.

無論紅黃黑白種，都是耶穌心寶貝，耶穌喜愛世上所有的小孩。

无论红黄黑白种，都是耶稣心宝贝，耶稣喜爱世上所有的小孩。


黑

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (黑):
* → Japanese: 黒(こく) (koku)
* → Korean: 흑(黑) (heuk)
* → Vietnamese: hắc (黑)

Five Punishments
Shuowen
Spring and Autumn
Warring States

Pictogram (象形) – a person (大) with a tattooed face, depicting penal tattooing (墨 and 黥), one of the five punishments of ancient China.
In the bronze inscriptions from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, dots were sometimes added around 大, leading Shuowen to erroneously interpret the character as an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 𡆧 (“chimney”) + 炎 (“fire; flame”) — fire burning under a chimney, causing it to become black from the smoke.
This word displaced the earlier word for "black", 玄. Unrelated to 熏.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-maŋ ~ s-mak. Cognate with 墨 (OC *mlɯːɡ, “ink”).
The sense of “hack” is a phono-semantic matching of English hack.

Han compound

† - usually describes the color of cloth or thread

黑客 ― hēikè ― hacker

Can you hack into Henderson's office computer?

Nǐ kěyǐ hēidiào Hēngdésēn bàngōngshì de diànnǎo ma?

你可以黑掉亨德森辦公室的電腦嗎？

你可以黑掉亨德森办公室的电脑吗？

Short for 黑龍江／黑龙江 (Hēilóngjiāng, “Heilongjiang province”).


鼓

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (鼓):
* → Japanese: 鼓(こ) (ko)
* → Korean: 고(鼓) (go)
* → Vietnamese: cổ (鼓)

Wutunhua: guu

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 壴 (“drum”) + 支 (“hand holding drumstick”). Compare 殸. See also the right component of 段.
Area word; compare Proto-Tai *klɔŋᴬ (“drum”), Saek [script needed] (tlɔɔŋᴬ¹), Proto-Hlai *laŋ¹ (“drum”), Proto-Wa (*kloʔ, "bronze-drum") (Schuessler, 2007).
瞽 (OC *kʷaːʔ, “blind man; musician”) is a derivative.

Han compound

鼔
皷
𡔷
𪔐
𪔨
𪔎
𩉨
𩉲
𩉩
𩊉

仙人拍鼓有時錯，跤步踏差啥人無／仙人拍鼓有时错，跤步踏差啥人无

sian-jîn phah kó͘ iú sî chhò, kha-pō͘ ta̍h-chha siáⁿ-lâng bô


鼾

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qʰaːn, *ɢaːns): semantic 鼻 + phonetic 干 (OC *kaːn).
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *hal (“to snore”). Compare Tibetan ཧལ (hal, “to pant; to wheeze; to snort; to snore”).

cog

打鼾


鶴

/hɔk̚²¹⁻²¹⁵/

/hɔk̚²¹⁻²¹⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡloːwɢ): phonetic 寉 (OC *ɡluːwɢ) + semantic 鳥.
Possibly from Austroasiatic (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *kl(uə)k (“white”), whence Proto-Vietic *t-lɔːk (“white”) but Old Mon kloh (“crane”).


黍

A cereal 禾 with water 水 or kernels under it. The water may symbolize the wine made from millet or the fact that millet sticky and water-resistant; otherwise, given that millet is a resistant plant that can grow on dry ground, the "water" component remains unexplained. See 黎, in which the radical appears as a contracted form.
Schuessler (2007) minimally reconstructs Old Chinese *nhaʔ, comparing it to Tibetan ནས་ (nas, “barley”). STEDT provisionally reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *nas (“highland barley”).
However, Baxter and Sagart (2014) reconstruct Old Chinese *s-tʰaʔ based on aspirated affricate reflexes in certain Mandarin dialects, e.g. Hefei tʂʰu³, Yangzhou tsʰu³, as well as sound gloss evidence from Shuowen. This would make the comparison to Tibetan less plausible.

inh

That we might plant our broomcorn millet and foxtail millet; that our broomcorn millet might be abundant, and our foxtail millet luxuriant.

我蓺黍稷。我黍與與、我稷翼翼。

我蓺黍稷。我黍与与、我稷翼翼。

Panicum miliaceum
Panicum miliaceum#Translingual

proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) (especially glutinous varieties, but also generic)


骨

Characters in the same phonetic series (骨) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 冎 (“skull”) + ⺼ (“body”).
Usually related to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/m/g-rus (“bone”), whence Tibetan རུས (rus), Nuosu ꃷꅍ (vup ddu), S'gaw Karen တၢ်ဃံ (ta̱xee), but there is no trace of a medial *r in Chinese (Schuessler, 2007).

Han compound

(Quanzhou Hokkien) clever; intelligent; smart


黨

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (黨):
* → Japanese: 党(とう) (tō)
* → Korean: 당(黨) (dang)
* → Vietnamese: đảng (黨)

→ Zhuang: dangj

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *taːŋʔ, *tʰaːŋʔ): phonetic 尚 (OC *djaŋ, *djaŋs) + semantic 黑 (“black”) – black; dark.
The endoactive of 當 (OC *taːŋ, “to be equal of”), literally "that which is equal in rank" (Schuessler, 2007).

Han compound

(for one-party states, in press releases or official media) the ruling party

(Wa State, specifically) United Wa State Party

party
the ruling party
United Wa State Party


麻

Characters in the same phonetic series (麻) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 厂 + 𣏟: a representation of hemp leaves.
Etymology not clear, however PKS (Proto-Kam-Sui) *Ɂŋra¹ ‘sesame’ looks remotely similar to OC.

Han etyl

大麻

黃麻／黄麻 ― huángmá ― jute

亞麻／亚麻

(historical, obsolete) hemp band worn on the head or waist by a mourner

traditional Chinese medicine
traditional Chinese medicine

(traditional Chinese medicine) Short for 麻疹 (mázhěn, “measles”).


鳥

→ Thai: เจี๊ยว (jíao)

/ni̯aʊ̯ɻʷ²¹⁴/

/n̠ʲi̯ɒu̯⁴¹/

/ni̯aʊ̯ɻʷ²¹⁴/

/n̠ʲi̯ɒu̯⁴¹/

Characters in the same phonetic series (鳥) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形): a bird with a dangling tail.
Compare 烏, which is very similar, of similar origin, and 隹, which originated from a similar image of a bird, but is today rather more abstract and less recognizable. Compare to Egyptian 𓄿
Originally pronounced with a /t-/ initial (compare 島 (OC *tuːwʔ, “island”)). In many dialects, it changed to a /n-/ initial to avoid homophony with the vulgar word 屌 (diǎo, “penis”), which may ultimately have developed from the sense “bird”. Birds/fowl are characteristically associated with Chinese slang for genitalia; compare 雀 (“sparrow > penis”) and 雞 (“chicken > penis”).
Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) hypothesised that the /n-/ initial form for “bird” may be unrelated to the /t-/ form. Instead, it may be connected with the Tai-Kadai word for bird; compare Proto-Tai *C̬.nokᴰ (“bird”), whence Thai นก (nók).
The /t-/ form may be derived from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *daw (“bird”), cognate with Proto-Karen *thoᴮ (“bird”) and Proto-Bodo-Garo *tao² (“bird”).

我才不鳥他。

我才不鸟他。

(slang, dialectal) to pay attention; to heed; to take notice of

這事情太鳥了！

这事情太鸟了！

(vulgar, chiefly Taiwan) inferior or objectionable (a general term of disparagement)


鳥

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (鳥):
* → Japanese: 鳥(ちょう) (chō)
* → Korean: 조(鳥) (jo)
* → Vietnamese: điểu (鳥)

→ Thai: เจี๊ยว (jíao)

(vulgar) Alternative form of 屌 (diǎo)
penis

你這鳥人！

你这鸟人！

(vulgar) Alternative form of 屌 (diǎo)
(intensifier) damned; goddamn

Alternative form of 屌 (diǎo)
damned; goddamn


鹿

/lɵk̚³²⁻³²⁵/

/lɵk̚³²⁻³²⁵/

Characters in the same phonetic series (鹿) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a deer. Current form is highly abstracted – legs have transformed to 比 – note grouping of front and rear legs, which are bent – head has transformed to middle component (similar to 凸/曲), while antlers on top and extended lip/mouth on left transformed into 广. This transformation occurred during seal characters.
Contrast the very different development of 馬 (“horse”), and the transformation in 廌 (as in 薦), which has the head of 鹿 but the legs of 馬 (灬).
Uncertain, though possibly Sino-Tibetan (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Northern Naga *gjuk (“deer, sambar”), from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *g-rjuk (French, 1983); also according to French, Benedict relates the Tibeto-Burman item to Western Gurung [script needed] (gju, “sheep”), but this Gurung item may instead be related to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *luk (“sheep”) (Schuessler, 2007).
Within Chinese, Sagart (1999) relates this to 角 (OC *kroːɡ, “horn”).
Baxter and Sagart (2014; 2020) compares this to Langjia Buyang /ma⁰ lɔk⁸/. Note also Nùng klook (“deer”) (Schuessler, 2007).

cog

In the forest there are the scrubby oaks; in the wild there is a dead deer.

林有樸樕，野有死鹿。

林有朴樕，野有死鹿。


龜

→ Zhuang: gvi

Characters in the same phonetic series (龜) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形): A drawing of a turtle seen from the side and from above (Bronze inscriptions).
Austroasiatic. Compare Mon ဂွိ (gwi, “soft-shell turtle”), Nyah Kur ทะวี่ʔ (tha wìiʼ, “soft-shell turtle”) (Schuessler, 2007).

cog

龟
亀
𪚧
𪚿
𪚨
𪚦
𬺞
𮯛
𮯜
𮯝
𮯞
𮯟

What are the four numinous animals? The lin, the feng, the tortoise, and the dragon; those are called the four numinous animals.

The Book of Rites, c. 4ᵗʰ – 2ⁿᵈ century BCE

Héwèi sìlíng? Lín fèng guī lóng, wèi zhī sìlíng.

何謂四靈？麟鳳龜龍，謂之四靈。

何谓四灵？麟凤龟龙，谓之四灵。


音

Characters in the same phonetic series (音) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogram (指事): 言 (“word”) with something in 口 (“mouth”) written like 甘 – sound coming from the mouth. The vertical trait, that used to represent the body of the tongue, then disappeared as in 言, and 甘 was stylized as 曰.

Han etyl

音障


風

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (風):
* → Japanese: 風(ふう) (fū)
* → Korean: 풍(風) (pung)
* → Vietnamese: phong (風)

→? Old Korean: (via Old Chinese) (Zhao, 2007)

desctree

Middle Korean: ᄇᆞᄅᆞᆷ (polom, “wind”)
Korean: 바람 (baram)

Drung language
Jingpho language
Shuowen
dissimilation

Characters in the same phonetic series (凡) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *plum, *plums): phonetic 凡 (OC *bom) + semantic 虫 (“insects”); the point inside 凡 is still visible above the insect, hence this component appears as 䖝. Ancient Chinese people thought that insects appear with wind. (Insects refer to any kind of animal, such as tigers (大蟲)).
In the oracle bone script, the character 鳳 (OC *bums, “male fenghuang”) was phonetically borrowed to represent 風 (OC *plum, *plums). The right part of the bronze inscription of the character consists of phonetic 凡 (OC *bom) at the top, and three parts depicting the fur on the tail of the male fenghuang at the bottom. Subsequent forms of 風 are based on the right part of its bronze inscription, with two of the three threads of "fur" removed for simplification. The 虫 in the Chu script and Qin script of 風 was likely a result of further simplification of the "fur". Shuowen misinterpreted the character 風 by associating it with insects. (Li, 2012)
Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *buŋ (“wind”) (STEDT). Velar nasal final -ŋ, restored later in Middle Chinese (Schuessler, 2007), is preserved in cognates like Proto-Central Naga *m-puŋ, Jingpho mabung, nbung, Drung nvmbeung.
Pronunciations 1, 2, and 3 are all cognates; with both 2 and 3 evolving from *prəm-s, exoactive (with causative suffix -s) of *prəm (Schuessler, 2007). It is unclear how Old Chinese *prəm is related to Tibetan རླུང (rlung) and Proto-Tai *C̬.lɯmᴬ.
Korean 바람 (baram) may have been borrowed from Chinese (Zhao, 2007). The Chinese word has a wide range of extended meanings, and interestingly many of these have exact parallels in the Korean item. Compare Chinese 風流 and 風騷 with Korean 바람둥이 (baramdung'i).
Cognate with:
* 飛廉 (OC *pɯl ɡ·rem, “wind god”)
* 蜚蠊 (OC *pɯlʔ/bɯls ɡ·rem, “cockroach”) (note the preservation of the -r- infix in Old Chinese through disyllabification, also 嵐 (OC *b·ruːm), 葻 (OC *b·uːm))
* 瘋 (OC *plum, “mad, insane”)
* 諷 (OC *plums, “to mock, to advise”)
* 帆 (OC *bom, *boms, “sail”)
The development from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese was irregular, driven by dissimilation of the initial and coda bilabial consonants.

Han compound

风
凨
凬
𠙈
𠙄
𠙊
凮
𠙗
飌
𩙣
𠂡


長

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (長):
* → Japanese: 長(ちょう) (chō)
* → Korean: 장(長) (jang)
* → Vietnamese: trưởng (長)

Pictogram (象形) – an old man with long hair; an ancient variant still used is 镸 (e.g., ⾽ and 鬓).
Compare 彡 and the top component of 老 and its variant 考.
Three pronunciations below are cognate, all derived from the original root of 張 (*traŋ, “to make long; to stretch; to string a bow”).
Pronunciation 1 ("long") is the endopassive derivative ("be extended, be stretched"), with intransitive voicing. The lack of Tibeto-Burman cognates with the same meaning indicate that this is a Chinese innovation. Pronunciation 2 ("to grow") is the endoactive derivative. The different pronunciations are one of the few instances of contemporary grammatical tone in Mandarin.
See 張 for more.


齊

Characters in the same phonetic series (齊) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogram (指事): a field of grain, hence of uniform height. Compare 森, in which three trees represent a whole forest.
Either related to Mizo čelʔᴸ (“equal, to endure”) or, more phonologically likely, Tibetan ཚིར (tshir, “queue, order, succession”) as Tibetan /tsʰir/'s final /-r/ can explain the Middle Chinese retroflex initial of 儕 (OC *zriːl), which is derived from 齊 (OC *zliːl). Note also similarities to Burmese စီ (ci, “to line up”), စေ့ (ce., “to keep things close together”).

cog

齐
斉
斊
立
亝
𠫼
𠄷
齐
褿
全
仝
巢
樵
昭
𤍫
焦
勻

to be the same height as; to be level with


鼠

Characters in the same phonetic series (鼠) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a mouse or rat. In the seal script form, which is inherited in the regular script, the upper component resembling 臼 (jiù) represents the open mouth of a rat with teeth displayed, and the lower component represents the two feet of a rat on the left and a tail on the right.
Unclear. Schuessler (2007) reconstructs the Minimal Old Chinese as *nhaʔ (homophonous to 癙 (OC *nhaʔ) "painful, suffering", which is in the same phonetic series and may be related to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *na-n/t (“ill, pain, sore, ache, difficult, evil spirit”)) and compares to the following:
* Nyah Kur [script needed] (hnáaʔ, “small squirrel; tree shrew”);
* Proto-Mon-Khmer *kn₁(i)ʔ (“rat; mouse”): Old Mon kni' > Mon ဂၞိ (nɔeˀ), Proto-Bahnaric *knɛː;
* Proto-Kam-Sui *hnu³ (“rat”): Southern Kam not, Sui hnoc.
STEDT, on the other hand, compares 鼠 (OC *hljaʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-jəw-n (“rat; rabbit; hare”).

cog

䑕
鼡
⿱𭕄电
⿱白⿲𠄌𠄌㇂

我屬鼠。

我属鼠。


鼻

Characters in the same phonetic series (畀) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *blids): semantic 自 (“nose”) + phonetic 畀 (OC *pids).
自 (OC *ɦljids) originally meant “nose” but came to be used to mean “self”, so the sense of “nose” has been replaced by 鼻 (OC *blids). Some scholars interpret 鼻 (OC *blids) as a combination of a nose (自 (OC *ɦljids)) and two lungs (畀 (OC *pids)), however 畀 on oracle bones represents an arrow.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bi (“nose”); compare Nuosu ꅳꁖ (hnap bbit, “nose; snot”).
Alternatively, it may be from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-brit (“sneeze; nose; swallow”), whence Tibetan སྦྲིད (sbrid, “sneeze”), but there is no trace of r in Chinese (Schuessler, 2007).
In some modern lects, including Mandarin, Gan, Jin, Wu, and Xiang, and even in the literary layer of some Min dialects, the word reflects a form with final *-t. For example, in standard Mandarin, the word is pronounced bí (implying an old entering tone) instead of bì (the expected reflex from the departing tone in Middle Chinese). This is due to a phonological phenomenon in the northwest, either an early loss of *-s in the *-ts cluster before regular final cluster simplification occurred (Baxter, 1992), or a dialectal change from *-s to *-t (Pulleybank, 1998).

inh

(anatomy) nose (Classifier: 個／个 c; 支 mn)

nose-like object, protruding part
handle

nose-like object, protruding part
pinhole

nose-like object, protruding part
(geography) cape

鼻祖


魚

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (魚):
* → Japanese: 魚(ぎょ) (gyo)
* → Korean: 어(魚) (eo)
* → Vietnamese: ngư (魚)

/ᵑɡui²²⁻²²⁵/

/ᵑɡui²²⁻²¹⁵/

/ᵑɡui²²⁻²²⁵/

/ᵑɡui²²⁻²¹⁵/

Characters in the same phonetic series (魚) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – a fish. A conservative variant is 𤋳.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ŋja. Cognate with 漁 (OC *ŋa, “to fish”).

Han etyl

fish (Classifier: 條／条 m c h j mb x; 尾 m h mn; 隻／只 g mn x; 頭／头 mb md; 梗 w)


食

→ Indonesian: ciak

→ Thai: เจี๊ยะ (jía)

Kwok (2018) reconstructs Proto-Southern Min *tsiaʔ⁸ and tentatively reconstructs Proto-Min *dziak (in Norman's system).
While often considered as the vernacular counterpart to etymology 1, it is unlikely to be related to etymology 1 (Norman, 1991; Klöter, 2005; Fuehrer and Yang, 2014). Schuessler (2007) suggests it derives from 嚼 (“to chew”) (probably based on Norman's unpublished manuscripts).

𠊊
𩚁
𩚀
𩚃
𠋑
𨢁
𠊊
吃
𠋡
呷
噍

(Mainland China Hokkien) to make a decision; to resolve to


龍

CJKV/code

Sino-Xenic (龍):
* → Japanese: 竜(りゅう) (ryū)
* → Korean: 룡>용(龍) (ryong>yong)
* → Vietnamese: long (龍)

→ Indonesian: liong

desctree

→ Proto-Vietic: *-roːŋ
Tho:
Cuoi Cham: ʐoŋ²
Lang Lo: ʐoŋ²
Viet-Muong:
Muong: rồng
Middle Vietnamese: 蠬 (ròu᷄), 𧏵 (ròu᷄)
Vietnamese: rồng

→ Old Turkic: 𐰠𐰇 (lü)

→ Middle Mongol: ᠯᠤᠤ (luu)

Classical Mongolian: ᠯᠤᠤ (luu)

Mongolian: ᠯᠤᠤ／луу (luu)

→ Zhuang: lungz

Old Turkic language
Proto-Hmong-Mien language
Proto-Vietic language
Turkish language
Vietnamese language
White Hmong language

Characters in the same phonetic series (龍) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Pictogram (象形) – originally a serpent with prominent whiskered mouth and eyes.
Current form developed in large seal script, with serpent’s body on right (tail at upper right, legs on right), whiskered/fanged mouth at lower left, and eyes/crown at upper left. Left side was subsequently simplified and abstracted, with some influence of 立 and ⺼/月. Note that 竜 existed as a traditional variant dating back to large seal script, and figures a dragon seen face-on, rather than curled around.
Compare 𣎆, which represents a particular kind of dragon.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-bru(ŋ/k) (“dragon; thunder”). Cognate with Tibetan འབྲུག ('brug, “dragon; thunder”). The STEDT database also lists 隆 (OC *ɡ·ruːŋ, “thunder; sound of thunder”) and 雹 (OC *bruːɡ, “hail”) as cognates. Also compare 靐 (OC *brɯŋs, “sound of thunder”) and 霹靂 (OC *pʰeːɡ reːɡ, “thunder”).
This word is found in many languages of the region. Compare Proto-Hmong-Mien *-roŋ (“dragon”) (White Hmong zaj), Proto-Vietic *-roːŋ (“dragon”) (Vietnamese rồng), Vietnamese thuồng luồng (“serpent-like monster”), Khmer រោង (roong, “year of the dragon”), Thai มะโรง (má-roong, “dragon; year of the dragon”), Lao ມະໂລງ (ma lōng, “year of the dragon”), perhaps also Old Turkic [script needed]|[Term?] (*-lan, suffix denoting a wild, predatory animal) (Turkish aslan (“lion”), kaplan (“tiger”), yılan (“snake”)).

cog-lite

龙
㡣
䮾
䰱
竜
龒
𠉒
𠊋
𢀀
𢄫
𢅛
𥪐
𥪑
𥪖
𥪢
𥫆
𥫈
𦱉
𦱸

(mythology) Chinese dragon (Classifier: 條／条 m c h; 尾 mn)


頭

/tʰɐu̯²¹⁻³⁵/

/tʰɐu̯²¹⁻³⁵/

Burmese language
French language
German language
Khmer language
Latin language
Middle High German language
Nuosu language
Proto-Loloish language
Proto-Mon-Khmer language
Proto-Sino-Tibetan language
Tibetan language

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *doː): phonetic 豆 (OC *doːs) + semantic 頁 (“head”).
Replaced earlier 首 (MC syuwX, “head”) due to homophony with 手 (ɕɨuX, “hand”) (Sagart, 1999).
Several etymologies have been proposed:
* From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-bu-s (“head”) or its allofam *du (“head”); compare Tibetan དབུ (dbu, “head”), Burmese ဦး (u:, “head”), Nuosu ꀑ (o, “head”), Proto-Loloish *ʔ-du² (“head”) (Benedict, 1972; Schuessler, 2007; STEDT; Starostin).
* Contraction of 髑髏 (OC *doːɡ roː, “skull”) (Wu, 2006).
* From Proto-Mon-Khmer *duul() (“to carry on one's head”), whence Khmer ទូល (tul); this is phonologically plausible since final consonants are often lost after a long vowel in loanwords (Schuessler, 2007).
* A variant of 豆 (OC *doːs, “a kind of vessel”), as skulls could have been used as drinking recipients; compare French tête (“head”) from Latin testa (“pot; jug”) and German Kopf (“head”) from Middle High German kopf (“drinking vessel”) (Maréchal, 1994; Sagart, 1999). However, Schuessler (2007) notes that 豆 (*doːs) seems like a tone C (去聲) derivation from 頭 (*doː), which may have originally meant “skull”.
* Baxter and Sagart (2014) reconstructs the Old Chinese with a *m- prefix for human body parts, deriving it from 兜 (*toː, “helmet; hood”).

cog-lite

While searching and shouting [he] went outdoors.

late Qing/early Republic, anonymous, 古板一世報全歌, book 3 page 6

头尋头呌门外来

头寻头呌门外来

(Teochew) at the same time; simultaneously


兼

Characters in the same phonetic series (兼) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): Hand 又 (as in 肀) holding two grain stalks 禾. Compare: 秉 (bǐng), a hand holding one plant.
Austroasiatic (Schuessler, 2007); compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *ckiəm ~ ckəm ~ ckam ~ ckaim (“to grasp, to hold”).

cog

𠔥
𬻵
𭵄
𭵈
𭁐
𭆢
𮏳

having both sexual characteristics; androgynous

兼有兩性特徵的

兼有两性特征的

concurrently; simultaneously; combining; both


䶞

kă̤ guă-cī / [kʰɛ⁵⁵ kua⁵⁵⁻⁵³ ^((t͡s-))ʒi³³]

䶞瓜子


𠚺

𠚺 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+4, 6 strokes, cangjie input 火竹中弓 (FHLN), composition ⿰少刂)


䀁

䀁 (Kangxi radical 108, 皿+6, 11 strokes, cangjie input 大月月廿 (KBBT), composition ⿱有皿)


㔶

㔶被

𱑉被


㖽

Han char

㖽 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 口一月金 (RMBC), composition ⿰口頁)


㚥

㚥 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 女一木 (VMD), composition ⿰女于)


㚥

to become associated with each other in good manners and politeness


㦿

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

(Eastern Min) Alternative form of 檻／槛 (“window”)


㩉

㩉 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+12, 15 strokes, cangjie input 手人口一 (QORM), composition ⿰扌翕)


㩉

Alternative form of 搨／拓
to hit; to strike


㩉

Alternative form of 㪧 (xī)
to hit; to strike


㪠

㪠 (Kangxi radical 66, 攴+10, 14 strokes, cangjie input 廿金卜水 (TCYE), four-corner 8124₇, composition ⿰兼攴)


㱄

㱄 (Kangxi radical 76, 欠+12, 16 strokes, cangjie input 田火弓人 (WFNO), composition ⿰黑欠)


㵶

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 氵 + phonetic 截 (OC *zeːd).


㾸

(Eastern Min) Only used in 㾸𤶁 (“scabies”).


䀹

䀹 (Kangxi radical 109, 目+7, 12 strokes, cangjie input 月山大人人 (BUKOO), composition ⿰目夾)


㾪

㾪 (Kangxi radical 104, 疒+9, 14 strokes, cangjie input 大火竹山 (KFHU), composition ⿸疒省)


㽱

Han char

㽱 (Kangxi radical 104, 疒+2, 7 strokes, cangjie input 大女中 (KVL), composition ⿸疒丩)


䋎

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 糸 + phonetic 旦 (OC *taːns).


䘥

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 衤 + phonetic 甲 (OC *kraːb).


䙎

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 衤 + phonetic 奚 (OC *ɡeː).


䞱

(Eastern Min) to get up, to suddenly get out of bed


䣩

䣩 (Kangxi radical 164, 酉+4, 11 strokes, cangjie input 一田心山 (MWPU), composition ⿰酉屯)


䟛

䟛 (Kangxi radical 157, 足+4, 11 strokes, cangjie input 口一十月 (RMJB), composition ⿰𧾷巿)


㾀

to be ill and frail; to be weakened by disease

(Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Taiwanese Hokkien) ugly

(Xiamen Hokkien, euphemistic) to pass away; to die

(Zhangzhou Hokkien, euphemistic) to pass away; to die (of a child)

to pass away; to die
to pass away; to die (of a child)


䘼

䘼 (Kangxi radical 145, 衣+8, 14 strokes, cangjie input 中十弓山 (LJNU), composition ⿰衤宛)


䭕

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/


𡳞

𡳞 (Kangxi radical 44, 尸+12, 15 strokes, cangjie input 尸火木手 (SFDQ), composition ⿸尸粦)


𩩍

Han char

𩩍 (Kangxi radical 188, 骨+7, 17 strokes, composition ⿰骨甹)


𩩍

(Cantonese) ribs, particularly in reference to back ribs


𠕇

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 冇 + 丶. In Min Nan, 冇, which is 有 (“to have”) without the two inner strokes, is used to mean "empty, hollow", originally when describing grain kernels. Adding 丶 inside 冇 shows a full kernel in the hollow husk, therefore meaning "hard, solid".


𡅏

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 口 + phonetic 禮 (lā̤).
From 裡／里, which is clipped from 著許裡／著许里 (“there”) (Wu, 2011).

Han compound

Modal particle used to indicate emphasis or exaggeration.


𣗬

/t͡sʰiɛu²¹³/

/t͡sʰiɛu²¹³/

𣗬兜


𡿤

𡿤 (Kangxi radical 46, 山+24, 27 strokes, cangjie input 廿土山口口 (TGURR), composition ⿰⿱⿳卝八日𡉀⿱⿱山口⿱山口)


𠁞

𠁞 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+13, 17 strokes, cangjie input 一火人一日 (MFOMA), composition ⿱不會)


𠁞

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 不 + 會.
Contraction of 不會／不会 (bùhuì).

zh-l

不會／不会 (bùhuì)


𥍉

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 目 (“eye”) + phonetic 聶

Han compound

(Quanzhou Hokkien) to rise; to go up (of prices)


𠆧

𠆧 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 人人 (OO), composition ⿰亻人)


𩟗

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

/t͡ɕi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

Alternative form of 䭕／𬲕 (“tasteless; insipid”)


𣍐

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意): 勿 + 會.
Contraction of 無會／无会 or 毋會／毋会.

𫧃
不
未
袂
袜
沒
𬒮
賣
𠁞
𠊉
𫧃
𠊉
𫧃

我若是汝，我𣍐去臺北。

我若是汝，我𫧃去台北。


𥻵

(Eastern Min) sì (a Fuzhounese dessert made from glutinous rice flour and served with soybean powder and sugar)


𡚸

Cognate with Min Nan 某 (bó͘, “wife”); ultimately derived from 母 (OC *mɯʔ, “mother”).

欲𡜿著刻苦

欲𡜿着刻苦


𢱤

𢱤 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 手卜廿大 (QYTK), composition ⿰扌送)


𰫕

(Eastern Min) a kind of steamed rice cake with filling (usually beans or glutinous rice), wrapped in leaves


𣆯

GT - General Taiwanese (no particular region identified)


𠡒

𠡒 (Kangxi radical 19, 力+6, 8 strokes, composition ⿰𠂤力)


𡋯

Han char

𡋯 (Kangxi radical 32, 土+7, 3 strokes, cangjie input 土十月木 (GJBD), composition ⿸土孛)


𧼨

/t͡ɕi̯ɛ³⁵ t͡ɕy̯ɛ³⁵/

/t͡ɕi̯ɛ³⁵ t͡ɕy̯ɛ³⁵/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 走 + phonetic 曷 (OC *ɡaːd).


𥷒

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 𥫗 + phonetic 歷 (OC *reːɡ).


𥭘

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 𥫗 + phonetic 絺 (OC *l̥ʰɯl).


𧥢

(Eastern Min) an indirect boast, humblebrag


𬂌

𬂌 (Kangxi radical 74, 月+10, 14 strokes, cangjie input 月戈月心 (BIBP), composition ⿰月能)


𩨑

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 骨 + phonetic 丁


𢩅

𢩅 (Kangxi radical 63, 戶+6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 戈尸人一口 (ISOMR), composition ⿸戶合)


𠠁

𠠁 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+14, 16 strokes, composition ⿰㬎 刂)


𠛓

𠛓 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+5, 7 strokes, composition ⿰卯 刂)


𠿝

(literary or Eastern Min) berate, reprove, reprimand


𤸬

𤸬 (Kangxi radical 104, 疒+10, 15 strokes, composition ⿸疒衰)


𡛾

(Eastern Min) Alternative form of 奶 (“milk, breast”)


𧜛

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 衤 + phonetic 郎 (lòng).


𠟶

𠟶 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+13, 15 strokes, composition ⿰窟刂)


𤶁

Only used in 痼𤶁 (“leprosy (Eastern Min)”).


𡢢

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 虞 (OC *ŋʷa).


𬇴

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 局 (gṳ̆k).
Cognate with Cantonese 杰 (git6), Teochew 𫀸 (geg8); also compare Lingao kɔt⁸ (“viscous”), Bouyei geg, Zhuang gwd.