Dong Chinese dictionary

shū

book

Phonosemantic compound. 聿 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Components

聿 Meaning component

yù

writing brush

者 Sound component

zhě

one who...

書 and 者 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.書 /*s-ta/
者 /*tAʔ/

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 者 than it was in ancient scripts.

Evolution

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

shū

book, letter, document; writings; book; letter; document; CL:本[běn],冊|册[cè],部[bù]; to write

Shū

abbr. for 書經|书经[Shūjīng]

Most common words with 書

Sources