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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

出

chū
to go out; to leave; to exit
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 凵
  • 5 strokes

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Origin

The character 出 is an ideogrammic compound composed of 止 (foot) and 凵 (cave). This combination represents the action of stepping out of a cave. By the Qin dynasty, the character had lost its original shape. The Shuowen Jiezi interprets the character as a pictogram of a plant (屮) growing outwards, noting that it represents something advancing or emerging.

Regarding its origins, Stedt derives the word as a cognate of Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-twak, comparing it to Burmese ထွက်, Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔ-twakᴴ, and Proto-Kuki-Chin *tshuak-I or *tshuaʔ-II. However, most Old Chinese reconstructions are considered phonetically incompatible with this etymon, and the comparison should be rejected. Alternatively, Sagart and Baxter and Sagart suggest a relationship to words expressing extraction, such as 掘 (to dig out), reconstructing the Old Chinese with an intransitivizing prefix *t-.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

「出」是一個會意字，由「止」（腳）與「凵」（洞穴）組成，象徵從洞穴中踏出，意指離開、出去、出現或來到。在《說文解字》中，此字被解釋為「進也」，並描述為草木生長、向上伸展的樣子。然而，到了秦代，該字的原始形狀已經改變，導致《說文解字》將其誤解為植物（屮）向外生長的象形字。

關於其詞源，有不同的學說。Stedt 認為此字與原始藏緬語 *s-twak（出來、出現）同源，並可對照緬甸語 ထွက်、原始苗瑤語 *ʔ-twakᴴ 以及原始庫基-欽語 *tshuak-I 或 *tshuaʔ-II。但由於目前的上古漢語構擬音與這些詞彙在語音上完全不相容，因此這種比較應被捨棄。

另一方面，Sagart 以及 Baxter 與 Sagart 則認為此字與表達「取出」的詞彙（如「掘」）有關，並構擬上古漢語時加上了使動前綴 *t-。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • ideaChinese凵 “to open one's mouth”

Related: Burmese ထွက်, Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔ-twakᴴ, Proto-Kuki-Chin *tshuak-I

Words built on it: 賣, 出生, 提出, 指出, 演出, 出去, 出租, 退出, 出版, 出口, 突出, 出席

Wiktionary etymology text

Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 止 (“foot”) + 凵 (“cave”) – to step out of a cave; to exit. Compare 各.

By the Qin dynasty, the character has lost its original shape. Based on the distorted form, Shuowen mistakenly interprets the character as a pictogram of a plant (屮) growing outwards.

STEDT derives this word as a cognate of Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-twak (“to come or go out; to emerge”); compare Burmese ထွက် (htwak, “to go or come out; to produce or yield; to leave”), Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔ-twakᴴ (“to come or got out; to emerge”), Proto-Kuki-Chin *tshuak-I, *tshuaʔ-II (“to come out; to emerge; to appear”). But virtually all Old Chinese reconstructions of this word nowadays are completely phonetically incompatible with this etymon; this comparison should be rejected.

Alternatively, Sagart (1999) and Baxter and Sagart (2014) suggest that this word is related to other words that express extraction, such as 掘 (OC *[ɡ]ut, “to dig out”), and reconstruct the Old Chinese with an intransitivizing prefix *t-.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to go out; to leave; to exit
  2. to appear
  3. to come; to arrive
  4. to go (to a certain place)
  5. out; outside
  6. to send out; to put forth

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

出：進也。象艸木益滋，上出達也。凡出之屬皆从出。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 自裡面到外面。與「入」、「進」相對。 例：出門、出外、足不出戶
  2. 給付、支付。 例：支出、入不敷出
  3. 來到。 例：出席、出場、出庭
  4. 生產、產製。 例：出米、出題
  5. 發行。 例：出版、出書、出唱片
  6. 發散、發洩。 例：出汗、出氣

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

How 出 was written 字形演變

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

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 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: 出