4699
I'm aware the two kanji are often pronounced the same, but why does one
contain the other in it?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-16T06:45:37.900
4698
2021-04-07T08:23:53.103
91
question
kanji
Why does 語 contain 五?
That is called 形声. About 90% of all kanjis are created in this way. In this
case, the left side `言` is responsible for the meaning, and the right side,
`吾` is responsible for the pronunciation. In turn, `吾` is composed of the
upper part `五`, which is responsible for the pronunciation and the lower part
`口`, which is responsible for the meaning. Why is `五` included in `語`? Because
it was created so. Why is this way of creating kanji so popular? Because it
will be a mess if thousands of kanjis were all pictograms, and if the
pronunciation and the meaning are combined, it will be easy to both remember
its meaning and the pronunciation.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-16T06:53:43.547
4699
2012-02-16T06:53:43.547
4698
answer
In Middle Chinese and a reconstruction of Old Chinese, 吾 and 五 have the
following readings (Baxter):

> 五: wu3 < ngu < *nga
>
> 吾: wu2 < nguX < *ngaʔ
>
> 語: yu3 < ngjoX < *ng(r)aʔ

In modern Mandarin, 語 (yu3) and 五 (wu3) have diverged in pronunciation, but
according to reconstructions they were pronounced similarly in antiquity.

There are other cases of 形声 where the phonetic does not apparently match the
pronunciation -- some of these are because of this divergence.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2012-02-16T09:53:36.100
4700
2021-04-07T08:23:53.103
2021-04-07T08:23:53.103
816
816
4698
answer