Dong Chinese dictionary

dú, dòu

read

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 𧸇 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán

speech

𧸇 Sound component

yù

to sell

The original sound component 𧸇 was later corrupted to the visually and semantically similar character 賣.

讀 and 𧸇 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

dú

read, study; pronounce; to read; to study; reading of word (i.e. pronunciation), similar to 拼音[pīnyīn]

dòu

comma; phrase marked by pause

Most common words with 讀

Sources