Dong Chinese dictionary

hé

why? what? where?

Original meaning:

cut fruit

Depicts a type of fruit with something cut off from it. The component that depicts the fruit was later reanalyzed as phonetic component 匃. Based on the original meaning "cut fruit". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts something that has been cut from the fruit.

匃 Sound component

gài

beggar

Originally depicted a type of fruit. Later reanalyzed as phonetic component 匃.

曷 and 匃 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.曷 /*[g]ˤat/
匃 /*[k]ˤat-s/, /*[k]ˤat/

Evolution