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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

克

/kʰɤ⁵¹/
to be able to
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 儿
  • 7 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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Origin

Origin uncertain. Oracle bone and bronze forms consist of 由 (or simply 口) over a sideways-standing basin (see also 般).

The sideways basin may signify overturning, extending to mean "to change"—representing the word 革 (OC *kˤrək).

; "gram"

; Tibetan measuring vessel, Tibetan volume unit, Tibetan area unit

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • simplified fromChinese剋 “to counteract; to work against; to conflict (especially of one's fate with someone else)”
    • derivedMiddle Chinese刻
    • partChinese刂
  • partChinese十 “ten”
  • partChinese兄 “elder brother”
    • ideaChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
    • ideaChinese儿 “standing person”

Words built on it: 巧克力, 克服

Meanings

character
  1. to be able to
  2. to defeat; to vanquish; to conquer
  3. to subdue; to restrain
  4. to digest
  5. to set (a time limit)
  6. gram (g)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

克：肩也。象屋下刻木之形。凡克之屬皆从克。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 戰勝。 例：克敵致勝、攻無不克
  2. 制服、約束。 例：克服、克己復禮
  3. 能夠。 例：不克前來、不克分身
  4. 量詞。計算重量的單位。即公克的簡稱。公制一克等於千分之一公斤。

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

How 克 was written 字形演變

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