jiē

sigh

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
口 meaning component

  Meaning component

kǒu

  

mouth

差 sound component

  Sound component

chàchāchāi

  

to differ

Evolution

嗟 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
嗟 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
嗟 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
嗟 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
嗟 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

jiē

sigh, alas; sigh; also pr. [juē]