Dong Chinese dictionary

chú

eliminate

Original meaning:

stair steps

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 余 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "stair steps". The meaning later shifted to "divide", "remove", and "except".

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù

hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

阝 hints at the original meaning of 除, "stair steps", which is no longer the most common meaning of 除 in modern Mandarin.

余 Sound component

yú

除 and 余 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.除 /*[l]<r>a/, /*lra-s/
余 /*la/

Evolution