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 · 637 verified explanations
Recently explained
- 省shěngto omit; to leave out
- 連liánman-drawn carriage
- 樹shùto plant; to place upright; to cultivate
- 接受/t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵ ʂoʊ̯⁵¹/to accept (treatment, gift, punishment, etc.); to receive (education, honours, invitation, interview, etc.); to take (criticism)
- 藥yàomedicine; drug; pharmaceutical
- 者zhěUsed at the end of a command.
- 河héYellow River, Huang He (a major river in northern China, passing through Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong provinces as well as Ningxia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions)
- 表biǎoouter garment
- 合作/xɤ³⁵ t͡su̯ɔ⁵¹/to cooperate; to collaborate; to work together
- 一切yīqièall; every; everything; anything
- 多少duōshaohow many; how much
- 正zhèngstraight; upright in proper position; middle
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.