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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

劃

/xu̯ä³⁵/
to delimit; to differentiate；to divide; to mark off
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • radical 刀
  • 14 strokes

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *qʰʷreːɡ, *ɡʷreːɡ): phonetic 畫 (OC *ɡʷreːɡs, *ɡʷreːɡ) + semantic 刂 (“knife”).

Schuessler (2007) thinks the two verbs 畫 (OC *ɡʷˤrek) and 劃 (OC *ɡʷˤrek also) are related. Further, he proposes Austroasiatic origin by comparing them to Old Khmer gur ~ gvar (“to draw a line, to make a drawing”) and surmising that AA *gwer, when suffixed by OCh. *-k, became OCh. *gwrek due to:

* metathesis of *-r before *-k (also seen in 白 (OC *bˤrak) from *-k suffixed to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bar, whence also 皤 (OC *[b]ˤar) (ibid.)), and

* vowel alternation between /*a/ and /*e ~ i/ (also seen in 良 (OC *[r]aŋ) & 令 (OC *riŋ), 涼 (OC *C.raŋ) & 冷 (OC *[r]ˤeŋʔ), etc.).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • soundChinese畫 “to write; to draw; to paint”
    • meaningChinese聿 “original form of 筆／笔 (bǐ, “writing brush; pencil”)”
    • soundChinese規 “dividers; measuring compass”
      • componentChinese夫 “male adult; man”
      • componentChinese見 “to see”
        • componentChinese目 “eye (Classifier: 雙／双 mn-t)”
        • componentChinese卩 “kneeling person”
  • meaningChinese刀 “knife; blade (Classifier: 把 m c g h j mb md w x; 張／张 c h; 叢／丛 mn; 支 mn mn-t)”

Related: Old Khmer gvar

Words built on it: 計劃, 划

Meanings

character
  1. to delimit; to differentiate；to divide; to mark off
  2. to transfer (money, accounts, etc.)
  3. to assign (task, etc.)
  4. to plan
  5. to gesture as a signal
  6. to scratch; to cut (the surface)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

劃：錐刀曰劃。从刀从畫，畫亦聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 區分、分界。通「畫」。 例：劃分、劃定界線
  2. 設計、謀略。 例：籌劃、計劃

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

How 劃 was written 字形演變

  1. 劃 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  2. 劃 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 劃 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
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 劃