Bottom component of 青 and 䏍 When learning how to write, I had always assumed that the lower component of the left component 䏍 of 能 was just a lower variant of 月.  A couple of days ago, however, I decided to look it up, and I found that, at least according to YellowBridge, it is not a variant of 月, but is in fact a lower variant of 肉.

Okay, fair enough.  But then I looked-up 青, and I found that, also according to YellowBridge, the lower component here is indeed a lower variant of 月.  When I found this out, I figured there would be a subtle, but noticeable difference, between the two (for example, similar to the differences between 己 and 已, or between 口 and 囗, etc.), but after looking at the characters in detail using YellowBridge's "Strokes" tab, I really could not see any noticeable difference between the two.

Is it indeed the case that the lower component of 䏍 is different from the lower component of 青?  If so, what is the visual cue to look for to tell the difference between these two components?
Brief Answers


  Is it indeed the case that the lower component of 䏍 is different from the lower component of 青?


Yes in the etymology sense (the lower component of 䏍 is 肉, and the lower component of 青 is 丹), but it's not necessary to distinguish them in your hand writing – though, maybe some teachers, especially those in Taiwan, encourage you to do so – you will soon see the problem: 月 can denote five different components; in practice no one would distinguish all of them in the hand writing!


  If so, what is the visual cue to look for to tell the difference between these two components?



In order to reflect the etymology of characters, some fonts distinguish the two components. However, so far, to the best of my knowledge, no font can distinguish the five different components denoted by 月.
Of course, they are sharply distinguished in seal and older scripts.


More Information: Five Different "Forms" of 月


月 (Moon).


  Seal script: 
  
  Kangxi Dictionary: 
  
  Taiwan MOE standard: 

肉 (Meat). There is an ideogram coded in Unicode for this special 月, ⺼ (Note: this special ideogram can only stand for 肉, but cannot stand for other meanings. The entry for 朕 in Yellowbridge says "... boat 舟 (replaced by ⺼)" – that's a mistake). Example: 能


  Seal script: 
  
  Kangxi Dictionary: 
  
  Taiwan MOE standard: 

舟 (boat). Example: 前 (歬 is an old variant form to reflect the seal script)


  Seal script: 
  
  Kangxi Dictionary: 
  
  Taiwan MOE standard: 

丹 (well). Example: 青 ( is an old variant form to reflect the seal script; 靑 is coded in Unicode to reflect 丹, though chaotically not all of characters with a variant component can be coded.)


  Seal script: 
  
  Kangxi Dictionary: 
  
  Taiwan MOE standard: 

贝 (shell). Example: 朋 (two strings of shells)


  Oracle script:
  
  
  
  Kangxi Dictionary: 
  
  Taiwan MOE standard: