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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

冬

dōng
winter
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 冫
  • 5 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Unclear. One hypothesis derives 冬 (OC *tˤuŋ) from the antenna-like upper part of an oracle-bone graph formerly read as 鼉／鼍 (tuó) (“crocodilian”) (e.g. 合集 6163反, 7405反), but reinterpreted as 螽 (OC *tuŋ) (“katydid; locust”).

The word may be related to 統 (OC *tʰˤuŋh)(“thread-end; leading strand of silk”) and 終 (OC *tuŋ).

Possibly related to 終 (OC *tjuŋ, “to end”) (Wang, 1982, Sagart, 2023b). Sagart (ibid.) also proposes cognacy to Chepang त्युङ्हसा (tyuŋh, “at end, be weak, exhausted”), द्युमःसा (dyumʔ, “at ease after completing work”), द्युम्सा (dyum, “terminate, reach end; to be at end”), Jingpho chatum (“end, finish”), Limbu [script needed] (tum-ma, “ripe, mature”), Proto-Central Naga *a-thəm (“end, finish”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese夕 “night; evening; dusk”
  • partChinese冰 “ice (Classifier: 塊／块 m c; 嚿／𫩥 c)”
    • soundChinese仌 “ice”
    • meaningChinese水 “water (Classifier: 瓶 m; 樽 c; 滴 m c; 池 m c; 盆 m c; 杯 m c)”

Related: Chepang त्युङ्हसा, Jingpho chatum

Words built on it: 冬天, 疼, 冬季, 終

Meanings

character
  1. winter
  2. winter solstice
  3. year
  4. (telegraphy) the second day of a month
  5. a surname

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

冬：四時盡也。从仌从夂。夂，古文終字。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 一年四季中，最寒冷的一季。農曆指立冬至立春的時期。以北半球氣候論，概指國曆十一月至翌年的二月期間。 例：寒冬、殘冬、嚴冬

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

How 冬 was written 字形演變

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