Dong Chinese dictionary

cāi

guess

viciously resent

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound. Meanings derived from resentful suspicion.

Components

犭 Meaning component

quǎn

dog

犭(dog, animal) signifies animalistic sentiment.

犭 hints at the original meaning of 猜, "viciously resent", which is no longer the most common meaning of 猜 in modern Mandarin.

青 Sound component

qīng

green or blue

猜 and 青 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.猜 /*sʰlɯː/
青 /*[s.r̥]ˤeŋ/

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

cāi

guess, conjecture, suppose; feel; to guess

Most common words with 猜

Sources