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 · 1,531 verified explanations
Recently explained
- 親眼目睹/t͡ɕʰin⁵⁵ jɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹ mu⁵¹ tu²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/to see with one's own eyes; to witness personally
- 不知所謂/pu⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ su̯ɔ²¹⁴⁻²¹ weɪ̯⁵¹/ridiculous; absurd; nonsense
- 不同尋常/pu⁵¹ tʰʊŋ³⁵ ɕyn³⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰɑŋ³⁵/out of the ordinary; unusual
- 無關緊要/u³⁵ ku̯än⁵⁵ t͡ɕin²¹⁴⁻²¹ jɑʊ̯⁵¹/unimportant; inconsequential
- 字裡行間/t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ li²¹⁴⁻²¹ xɑŋ³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵⁵/between the lines
- 表面文章/pi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ mi̯ɛn⁵¹ wən³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɑŋ⁵⁵/focus solely on form or appearance without emphasis on content or effectiveness; ostentatiousness
- 愈演愈烈/y⁵¹ jɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹ y⁵¹⁻⁵³ li̯ɛ⁵¹/to become more and more intense and serious
- 貫徹始終/ku̯än⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʈ͡ʂʰɤ⁵¹ ʂɻ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʊŋ⁵⁵/to follow through; to carry through to the end
- 從何而來/t͡sʰʊŋ³⁵ xɤ³⁵ ˀɤɻ³⁵ laɪ̯³⁵/where is ... from; where does ... come from
- 密不可分/mi⁵¹⁻⁵³ pu⁵¹ kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ fən⁵⁵/inextricably linked; inseparable
- 半……不……bàn bùsynonym of 半……半…… (bàn bàn, “half …, half …”)
- 可見一斑/kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹⁻⁵³ i⁵⁵⁻⁵¹ pän⁵⁵/to be able to deduce the whole picture of a matter from one small detail
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.