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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

乘

chéng
to ascend; to go up
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 5
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 丿
  • 10 strokes

Etymology graph

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

Etymology 0

Pictogram (象形) – a person 大 climbing a tree 木, with the feet visible. Etymology clearer in alternative form 椉. In the form 乘, simplified to 禾 + 北.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Tocharian B klenke (“vehicle”) or Tocharian B klānk, Tocharian A klānk (“to ride, travel (by vehicle)”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese禾 “grain; cereal”
  • partChinese北 “north; northern”
  • borrowedTocharian Bklenke “vehicle”
    • borrowedTocharian Bklānk
      • borrowedTocharian Aklānk “to ride, travel (by vehicle)”

Words built on it: 剩, 乘客

Meanings

character
  1. to ascend; to go up
  2. to drive (a horse, cart, etc.)
  3. to take (a form of transport)
  4. to make use of; to take advantage of
  5. to pursue; to attack
  6. to multiply

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 史書。 例：史乘
  2. 佛教用語。本為車乘的意思，用來譬喻教法，以其能載修行者到達解脫的境界。 例：大乘、小乘
  3. 量詞。古代計算車輛的單位。 例：萬乘之國、百乘之家

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

How 乘 was written 字形演變

  1. 乘 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 乘 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 乘 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 乘 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 乘 in Clerical script
    Clerical
    隸書
    Han
  6. 乘 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
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 乘