下

Ideogram (指事): short horizontal below long arc (contrast 上).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(k/g)la-k/j/t (“to fall”) (STEDT):

* inside Sinitic, cognate with 落 (OC *ɡ·raːɡ, “to fall, to drop”), 露 (OC *ɡ·raːɡs, “dew”), 陊 (OC *l'aːlʔ, *l'alʔ, “to collapse”) and 阤 (OC *l'alʔ, *hljalʔ, “hillside, slope”);

* outside Sinitic, cognate with Mizo tla ~ tlâk (“to fall”), thla ~ thlâk (“to drop”), Burmese ကျ (kya., “to fall”) and ချ (hkya., “to drop”).

Schuessler (2007) instead proposed an Austroasiatic origin by comparing 下 (OC *ɡraːʔ, “to descend, down, below”) to Khmer [script needed] (gra'ka, “be low, debased”); additionally, he suggested that Sino-Tibetan influence had possibly caused the weakening of foreign final *-k to OC final *-ʔ. He derives the departing tone (去聲) pronunciation via two derivations:

* 下 (OC *ɡraːs, “to be put down”) is an exopassive derivation (ibid.);

* 下 (OC *ɡraːs, “to descend, to fall”) is a later, general departing tone derivative (ibid.).