Definitions

tiáo bangs, children's hairstyle; youngster

Etymology phono-semantic

hair

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character 髫 combines the upper semantic radical 髟 (flowing hair) with the lower phonetic component 叨. It originally described the hairstyle of young children in ancient China, where hair was left to hang loose in tufts. Through this association, the character came to represent early childhood itself, frequently appearing in the literary compound 髫年 to poetically refer to a person's youth.

Etymology Hide

Bronze etymology image
Bronze Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern