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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

勝

shèng
to be able to bear; to be able to withstand
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 力
  • 12 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *hljɯŋ, *hljɯŋs): phonetic 朕 (OC *l'ɯmʔ) + semantic 力 (“strength”).

Graphically, the character decomposes as 月 + 劵 (which gives rise to the simplified form 胜), though this is not the etymology.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • soundChinese朕 “omen; sign; portent (subtle signs before an event occurs; incipient state)”
  • componentChinese月 “moon (Classifier: 輪／轮 m)”
  • meaningChinese力 “physical strength; physical power; energy”
  • componentChinese劵

Words built on it: 胜

Meanings

character
  1. to be able to bear; to be able to withstand
  2. to be equal to; to match
  3. exhaustively; entirely; completely

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

勝：任也。从力朕聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 在戰爭或競爭中取得優勢。與敗相對。 例：戰勝、得勝、出奇制勝
  2. 超越。 例：略勝一籌、一個勝一個
  3. 美好的、優越的。 例：勝地、勝景

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

How 勝 was written 字形演變

  1. 勝 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 勝 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 勝 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 勝 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 勝 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 勝