<p>Yes, almost certainly a duplicate question.</p>

<p>But you raise an interesting question: why does 讀 have 賣 (mai4) on its right hand side?</p>

<p>In actual fact, the right hand side is a character pronounced yu4 (which looks similar to 竇 but which I cannot find in my IME) which was simplified to 賣 in the clerical script. Why does yu4 not sound much like du2? Well, according to Baxter's reconstruction of Old Chinese, they did: 讀 (*lôk), 賣 (*luk).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-13T09:51:42.943Z
2012-08-13T10:28:14.580Z
2012-08-13T10:28:14.580Z
jogloran
<p>I can provite a website <a href="http://www.chineseetymology.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.chineseetymology.org</a><br>
It was set up by Richard Horace Sears.
Maybe it can help you.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-13T21:30:19.037Z
Who is Richard?? Richard Gere?
deutschZuid
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-13T15:54:21.830Z
2016-04-27T10:38:28.130Z
2016-04-27T10:38:28.130Z
Charles
<blockquote>
  <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
  <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/511/what-etymology-dictionaries-are-available">What etymology dictionaries are available?</a><br>
  <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/1838/43">What was this online dictionary's name with ancient traditional and simplified characters and etymology?</a></p>
</blockquote>



<p>I always wanted to see where some Chinese characters originated from. Are there any websites that will show me how a Chinese character came into being?</p>

<p>For example, I'm interested on how 讀 has 賣 on its right yet sounds nothing like each other, nor have any similar meaning.</p>

<characters><etymology><glyph-origin>
Is there any website of where I can look up the origins of a Chinese character?
# Is there any website of where I can look up the origins of a Chinese character?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-08-13)

> **Possible Duplicate:**  
> [What etymology dictionaries are available?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/511/what-etymology-dictionaries-are-available)  
> [What was this online dictionary's name with ancient traditional and simplified characters and etymology?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/1838/43)

I always wanted to see where some Chinese characters originated from. Are there any websites that will show me how a Chinese character came into being?

For example, I'm interested on how 讀 has 賣 on its right yet sounds nothing like each other, nor have any similar meaning.

**Tags:** characters, etymology, glyph-origin


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2012-08-13. Score: 2

Yes, almost certainly a duplicate question.

But you raise an interesting question: why does 讀 have 賣 (mai4) on its right hand side?

In actual fact, the right hand side is a character pronounced yu4 (which looks similar to 竇 but which I cannot find in my IME) which was simplified to 賣 in the clerical script. Why does yu4 not sound much like du2? Well, according to Baxter's reconstruction of Old Chinese, they did: 讀 (\*lôk), 賣 (\*luk).


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### Answer by username_2 on 2012-08-13. Score: 0

I can provite a website <http://www.chineseetymology.org>  
It was set up by Richard Horace Sears.
Maybe it can help you.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Who is Richard?? Richard Gere?  

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