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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

九

jiǔ
nine
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 乙
  • 2 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Pictogram (象形) – a stylized hand, with bent wrist/forearm (hence the hook stroke at lower right). Earlier forms resemble 手 (shǒu), 寸 (cùn). The original meaning of the glyph was “elbow”, which is now written 肘 (OC *tkuʔ).

After the meaning “elbow” was forgotten, 九 was taken to symbolize a fist tightening to bump up against something; thus, there is a metaphorical bumping up of nine against ten, which is the last number when counting on one's fingers.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d/s-kəw. Compare Tibetan དགུ (dgu).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*d/s-kəw

Related: Tibetan དགུ

Meanings

character
  1. nine
  2. many
  3. each of the nine nine-day periods from the winter solstice
  4. synonym of 㞗 (gau1, “penis”)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

九：陽之變也。象其屈曲究盡之形。凡九之屬皆从九。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 介於八與十之間的自然數。大寫作「玖」，阿拉伯數字作「9」。
  2. 形容數量或次數極多。 例：九牛一毛、九霄雲外、九死一生

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

How 九 was written 字形演變

  1. 九 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 九 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 九 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 九 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 九 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 九 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

  • 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: 九