Where do words 和字 come from?
Trace an English word back to Proto-Indo-European, or a Chinese character back to its oracle-bone form. Every page is an interactive graph — click any part of it to zoom in.
1,400 English entries · 2,400 Chinese entries · 1,553 verified explanations
Recently explained
- 不堪一擊/pu⁵¹ kʰän⁵⁵ i⁵⁵⁻⁵¹ t͡ɕi⁵⁵/cannot withstand a single blow; collapse at the first blow
- 平pínglevel; even; flat
- 風雲人物/fɤŋ⁵⁵ yn³⁵ ɻən³⁵ u⁵¹/heroic figure; famed personage; man of the hour
- 指zhǐfinger (Classifier: 個／个 mn-t)
- 無足輕重/u³⁵ t͡su³⁵ t͡ɕʰiŋ⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵¹/of little importance or consequence; insignificant; of little account
- 克/kʰɤ⁵¹/to be able to
- 持之以恆/ʈ͡ʂʰɻ̩³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ i²¹⁴⁻²¹ xɤŋ³⁵/to persevere
- 直言不諱/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩³⁵ jɛn³⁵ pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ xu̯eɪ̯⁵¹/to call a spade a spade; to speak without reservation; not to mince one's words
- 與日俱增/y²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɻ̩⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡ɕy⁵¹ t͡sɤŋ⁵⁵/to grow with each passing day; to increase steadily
- 應運而生/iŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ yn⁵¹ ˀɤɻ³⁵ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵/to come into being as the times demand
- 忘恩負義/wɑŋ⁵¹ ˀən⁵⁵ fu⁵¹⁻⁵³ i⁵¹/to be devoid of gratefulness; to forget someone’s kindness and turn one’s back on him; to bite the hand that feeds one
- 大街小巷/tä⁵¹ t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɑŋ⁵¹/high streets and back lanes; throughout the city
Chinese characters 漢字
- 的dìbright; clear; distinct
- 是shìthis; this thing
- 有yǒuto have; to possess (when a subject is present)
- 你nǐyou (the person spoken to or written to)
- 在zàito exist; to be present; to be alive
- 我wǒI; me; my
- 人rénman; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)
- 也yěParticle used at the end of copular constructions involving a nominal predicate; to be (although not grammatically a verb)
- 年niányear (in generic contexts)
- 對duìcorrect; true; right
- 他tāhe; him; she; her
- 這zhèthis; these
English words
- the/ðə/...because it has already been mentioned, is to be completely specified in the same sentence, or very shortly thereafter.
- a/æ/The first letter of the English alphabet, written in the Latin script.
- a-/ə/Forming verbs with the sense away, up, on, out.
- -i/iː/Used to form adjectives, nouns, demonyms (describing people of a particular city, region or country) or genonyms (describing people of a particular tribe, clan or family) and the language spoken by these people.
- and/ˈænd/Used simply to connect two noun phrases, adjectives or adverbs.
- the-/θiː/god or deity
- -a/ə/Marks singular nouns, with a foundation in Greek or Latin, often implying femininity, especially when contrasted with words terminating in -us.
- -a-Connective interfix used in forming compounds, often no longer carrying a distinct meaning.
- to/t̪oː/A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.
- in-in, into, towards, within.
- to-Parting: forming verbs that involve cleaving, breaking, or sundering.
- -andUsed to form the present participle of verbs, equivalent to -ing.