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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

句

jù
sentence; phrase
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 口
  • 5 strokes

Etymology graph

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *koː, *koːs, *kos, *ɡo): semantic 丩 (“to entangle”) + phonetic 口 (OC *kʰoːʔ), which may represent the tip of a big nail.

The 丩 component, originally two entangled ropes, now resembles the unrelated 勹.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese丩 “to connect or graft a vine”
  • soundChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”

Words built on it: 狗, 夠, 句子, 局

Meanings

character
  1. sentence; phrase
  2. Classifier for sentences.
  3. Classifier for hours.

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

句：曲也。从口丩聲。凡句之屬皆从句。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 由兩個或兩個以上的字詞組成，含有主語、謂語，能表達一個完整意念的語文單位。 例：詩句、語句
  2. 量詞。計算言語的單位。 例：三句話不離本行。

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

How 句 was written 字形演變

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