Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
Historical forms are not available yet. The current form is shown as a reference.
The kanji 揺 is a phono-semantic compound character, formed during the clerical script transition in China. Its semantic component is the hand radical (扌), indicating an action performed with the hand. The phonetic component is 䍃 (yáo), which itself is a pictograph of a jar or vase being shaken or tapped. The character 䍃 depicts a kneeling figure (㔾) beside a pottery vessel (缶), representing the action of checking a pot for flaws or mixing its contents by shaking it. Thus, 揺 combines the meaning of "hand action" with the sound and associated concept of "shaking" from 䍃. Historically, the character evolved from these ancient roots. The earliest forms are seen in seal scripts, where the elements 扌 and 䍃 are clearly distinguishable. It was standardized into its modern form during the Han dynasty's clerical script. The character was introduced to Japan in waves, primarily through the importation of Chinese texts like the *Kojiki* and *Nihon Shoki* in the Nara and early Heian periods. It was integrated into the Japanese writing system as a standard kanji, adopting the Japanese kun'yomi "yu.ru" and the on'yomi "yō" from the Chinese reading. An interesting linguistic note is the relationship between 揺 and its phonetic component 䍃. While 䍃 is now obscure, its sound and meaning are preserved in several related characters, such as 搖 (the traditional form of 揺), 謠 (folk song, which "spreads" like a vibration), and 遙 (distant, implying a far-reaching "wave"). This demonstrates how a core etymological idea of oscillation or movement can branch into various semantic fields. In Japanese, the character carries a nuanced meaning, encompassing physical shaking, emotional swaying (揺れる心 - a wavering heart), and abstract unsteadiness.