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 · 231 verified explanations
Recently explained
- 別biéto divide; to separate
- 晚上wǎnshangevening; night (Classifier: 個／个)
- 站zhànto stand
- 先xiānfirst; ahead of time; before; beforehand
- 萬wànoriginal form of 蠆／虿 (chài, “scorpion”)
- 如果/ɻu³⁵ ku̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/if
- 拿náto take; to hold; to grasp
- 手shǒuhand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)
- 元yuánfirst; initial; primary; beginning
- 門méngate; door; entrance; opening; portal (Classifier: 扇 m mn; 道 m c; 度 c; 條／条 c; 隻／只 c; 片 mn)
- 公司gōngsīcompany; firm; corporation (Classifier: 個／个; 家; 間／间)
- 所以/su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻³⁵ i²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/therefore; so; consequently
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.