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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

十

shí
ten
  • Ideogram
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 十
  • 2 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

In oracle-bone script, 十 is mostly written as a single vertical stroke; a few examples add a central dot, as in HJ 9204. Later forms added 一, making a cross.

One view identifies it as the original graph of 針 (OC *kim, “needle”), later borrowed for 十 (OC *gip, “ten”). See 針 (OC *kim).

Another view sees it as a knotted-cord or thread-joining form, cf. 什 (OC *gip) (三蒼／三苍 glosses it as “to gather”), 揖 (*ʔip) (the 詩／诗 (shī) commentary glosses 揖揖 as “gathered”), 緝／缉 (jī) (“to join hemp fibres into thread”), and 輯／辑 (jí) (glossed in 說文／说文 (Shuōwén) as “to collect” and in 爾雅／尔雅 (Ěryǎ) as “to harmonize”).

For the sense of number ten (10), Ideogram (指事) is identified: a vertical stroke, indicating the next digit above one.

Unrelated to 支, 卖, 直, 真, 德, 甫, and 七, but related to the original form of 丈.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *sV-ɢip.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese一 “one”
  • partChinese丨 “To connect vertically; to pass through from top to bottom.”

Words built on it: 走, 由, 干, 十分, 克, 車, 牛, 計, 木, 什, 華, 甲

Meanings

character
  1. ten
  2. topmost; utmost

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

十：數之具也。一爲東西，丨爲南北，則四方中央備矣。凡十之屬皆从十。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 數目字。介於九和十一之間的自然數。大寫作「拾」，阿拉伯數字作「10」。
  2. 充足、圓滿。 例：十足、十全十美

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

How 十 was written 字形演變

  1. 十 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 十 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 十 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 十 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 十 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 十 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: 十