26
votes
Accepted
Is there any relation between the Cyrillic Ш (sha) and the Chinese 山 (shān)?
No. The Cyrillic script is based on the Greek script, and some other local scripts like Hebrew. The basis for sha is thought to be the Hebrew letter ש (shin).
ש
It's unlikely that shin is based on ...
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18
votes
Accepted
Why does 負 also mean "minus" and "negative"?
I think it's a mistake to rely too heavily on the glyph origin to interpret meanings of a Chinese morpheme.
It's easy to confuse the origins of Chinese characters and the origins of Chinese words. ...
- 6,806
17
votes
Accepted
What's the glyph origin of 妖?
《說文解字》沒有「妖」這一條目。
There is not an entry of 妖 in the 《說文解字》.
《說文解字注》對「𡝩」的解釋有提到「俗省作妖」。
The interpretation of 𡝩 in the 《說文解字注》 mentions 俗省作妖.
𡝩 [ yāo | ㄧㄠ ]
意思是，民間習慣上，將「𡝩」省略為「妖」。
也就是，「妖」的本字是「𡝩」。
...
- 5,886
17
votes
Accepted
Is there any connection between the choice of characters for 九 and 丸?
「九」 and 「丸」 are not related. As @user3306356 points out, 「丸」 is probably related to 「夗」.
商朝甲骨文菁2.1合集6057西周金文作冊夨令簋集成4300戰國・晉金文東周左𠂤壺集成9640小篆九部說文解字今楷書
「九」 depicts an arm showing the hand, a bent wrist,...
- 22.1k
13
votes
Accepted
Roots of the difference between 谈,论,说,讲,议, 叙,言,报,告,述
言 (yan2) is the root of all words meaning talk. It says so in the 說文解字 (a dictionary from the Han dynasty):
凡言之屬皆从言
The origin of the character 言 is a picture of a person with a big mouth. In ...
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12
votes
Does 来 show fruit on a tree or ripening corn?
很有趣。
Very interesting.
我到今天才知道「來」有這個意思，而且是它的本義。
I didn't know that 來 has this meaning until today, and this is even its original meaning.
「來」的本義是「麥」，也就是「麥」的上半部。
The original meaning of 來 is "grain ...
- 5,886
12
votes
Accepted
Meaning of the elements of 爵 (baron)
The 4 elements of this kanji are well known (claw/plectrum; net; north-east; short measurement)
Unfortunately, this way of interpreting Chinese character components is not correct. As part of other ...
- 22.1k
11
votes
Accepted
乘 vs 承 - are they related?
「乘」and「承」do indeed sound similar, but an etymological relation (if any) would be before the time of Old Chinese. They are unrelated, as far as usage or glyph origins is concerned.
乘
「乘」was originally ...
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11
votes
Accepted
Is there any sun 日 in 昌?
時期字體
字形
參考資料
商甲
甲185合集19924
戰國・燕古幣
108古幣文編
戰國・晉璽印
959古璽彙編
秦簡
日甲119睡虎地秦簡
篆
日部說文解字
楷
「昌」 (early morning call, e.g. to the day's labour) is comprised of semantic 「日」 (sun) on top of semantic 「...
- 22.1k
10
votes
Glyph origin of 也
Note: much of this is based on the answer by Altair at Chinese-Forums.
It may be worthwhile to answer the 也 / 他 / 地 / 池 question first.
Character Mandarin Cantonese Hokkien Middle Ch. ...
- 6,358
10
votes
Accepted
认识 vs 知道 based on glyph origins
I stated in my comment that I don't think study the etymology help you understand a character as much as cross reference the roles of a character in different compound words.
For 認
[1] recognise; ...
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10
votes
Is there a reason why 午 and 年 look so similar?
Yes, this is a coincidence. Generally, if the modern shape is confusing, you need to go back further in time to look at characters' original shapes and purposes to make sense of what's going on. Also, ...
- 22.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Why do cat (猫) and dog (狗) share the same 犭 radical?
The radical in 猫 actually comes from 豸 zhi4 (beast), which you can still see in the traditional character 貓.
Whereas the radical in 狗 is in fact 犭 quan3.
The simplified version of 猫 got the 犭 ...
- 5,452
9
votes
Accepted
Meaning of early written versions of 地 and etymology?
「地」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[l]ˤej-s/, ground) is comprised of semantic 「土」 (picture of a lump of dirt) and phonetic 「也」 (/*lAjʔ/). This structure is found relatively late, derived from a graphical ...
- 22.1k
8
votes
家: why is a home a place for pigs?
Speculations as to why pigs rather than cows form part of the character meaning home comes from some misunderstandings about the characters. Specifically,
「家」 contains 「豕」 as a corrupted phonetic ...
- 22.1k
8
votes
A unified theory of 就 meaning
reference: 现代汉语词典，第6版 (Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition).
This dictionary gives 8 basic meaning items for 就.
approach, get close to
get to, begin to do
passive, -ed by
finish, become
...
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8
votes
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Any ideas on the origin of the 绍 character?
The real way to describe characters should only utilise a surface level, not recursive, decomposition.
「紹」originally meant to continue. The meaning introduce is a semantic extension from to continue >...
- 22.1k
8
votes
Why is there a 女字旁 in the character 始?
「始」 (Zhengzhang OC: /*hljɯʔ/) is a variant of 「姒」 (/*ljɯʔ/), which was used early on for various meanings to do with elder female. You may treat the meaning begin as a either a phonetic loan, or ...
- 22.1k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the origin of the word 猫 (cat)?
The Japanese character you're referring to is 貓. Currently, in China they use 猫. Although 猫 is considered the simplified character of 貓, 猫 is already mentioned as a variant form in the 廣韻 dictionary, ...
- 592
7
votes
Where to look for history and etymology of Chinese characters? For example 工
The Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters, when it's finally ready, will be a user-friendly reference about the etymology of Chinese characters, together with mnemonics that can help learning them. ...
- 1,660
7
votes
Accepted
How does 巨 resemble a hand (彐) holding a carpenter's square (工)?
The forms you're looking at are actually the ancestors of「矩」.「巨」was formed by cutting off the person.
The analysis starts from this form
西周金伯矩盉蓋集成9412
which depicts a person「大」holding a tool「工」.
...
- 22.1k
7
votes
Accepted
沒 simplified to 没: What is the origin of the change?
"Simplification" is a process. If it's not reduced in stroke count, it's not actually "Simplified" - the mix-up in language is due to PRC's standard of Chinese being popularly ...
- 22.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Why are the words 戒 and 戎 written similarly?
The characters resemble each other because 「戒」 was subject to a slight amount of structural shuffling and the original lower-left component of 「戎」 is of a simple shape, so most people won't recognise ...
- 22.1k
7
votes
What does 尔 really mean?
There are many resources which "decompose characters", but most of them do not give any insight as to how Chinese characters actually work in relation to the language, and looking at these ...
- 22.1k
7
votes
How was 言 created by adding one mark to 舌?
The description
言 was created by adding a mark to 舌
should really be
言 was created by adding one or two horizontal marks to the top of 舌
Details aside, it is a fairly accurate character component ...
- 22.1k
7
votes
Accepted
What does rain 雨 have to do with mold 霉 and bad luck?
《說文・黑部》
黴，中久雨青黑。从黑，微省聲。
「黴」 (Zhengzhang OC: /*mrɯl/), blackening from being afflicted by prolonged rain. From semantic 「黑」 (black) and reduced phonetic 「微」 (/*mɯl/).
The character 「霉」 (mould, ...
- 22.1k
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