Dong Chinese dictionary

yí

doubt

Pictograph of a person holding onto a staff, looking to the side with his mouth open, doubtful of which direction to go. The 龰 (foot) component was added later to indicate movement, and the 牛 component was added to hint at the sound.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts a person standing up, holding onto a staff, with their mouth open and looking to the side.

牛 Sound component

niú

cow

疑 and 牛 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.疑 /*[ŋ](r)ə (< uvular)/
牛 /*[ŋ]ʷə (< uvular?)/

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

龰 Meaning component

zhǐ

(foot)

龰 is a component form of 止.

Evolution