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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

七

qī
seven
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 一
  • 2 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

Pictogram (象形) – a vertical stroke and a horizontal stroke bisecting each other – original character of 切 (OC *sn̥ʰiːds, *sn̥ʰiːd, “to cut”).

The top-most horizontal stroke is done from left to right. The vertical stroke and bottom-most horizontal stroke are done as one stroke, from top-left to bottom-right.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ni-s (“seven”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese丿 “left-falling stroke, usually read as 撇”
  • partChinese乚
  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*s-ni-s “seven”

Words built on it: 切

Meanings

character
  1. seven
  2. agate: The size of type between 小六 (xiǎoliù, “little 6”) and 八 (bā, “8”), standardized as 5½ point.

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

七：陽之正也。从一，微陰从中衺出也。凡七之屬皆从七。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 介於六與八之間的自然數。大寫作「柒」，阿拉伯數字作「7」。
  2. 民俗中做喪事每七日設奠一次，共需進行七次，叫「做七」。 例：頭七、滿七 （原「七」字口語連用在去聲字前讀成陽平。[例]七月、七個。今多不變調。）

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 七 was written 字形演變

  1. 七 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 七 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 七 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 七 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 七 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 七 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 七