Chinese
什麼
/ʂən³⁵ mə³/
what
- TOCFL 1
- 甚麼
- 什麽
- 甚麽
- 什么
Etymology graph
- inherited
- borrowed
- derived
- parts
- meaning component
- sound component
- related
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Origin
Corruption of medieval 是物 (MC dzyeX mjut, “why”) (Yuan et al., 1996: 318–324) or 什物 (MC dzyip mjut, “miscellaneous items”) (Norman, 1988; Zhang, 1982), perhaps influenced by 何物 (OC *ɡaːl mɯd, “what”).
From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lineage
- characterChinese什 “only used in 什麼／什么 (shénme)”
- characterChinese麼 “A particle placed after the topic of a compound sentence, used to express tactfulness.”
- soundChinese麻 “general name for hemp, flax, jute, etc.”
- ideaChinese厂 “cliff; habitable cave on a cliff”
- ideaChinese𣏟 “ramie”
- meaningChinese幺 “tiny; minute”
- soundChinese麻 “general name for hemp, flax, jute, etc.”
Sources
- 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: 什麼