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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

含

/xän³⁵/
to hold or keep in the mouth
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 口
  • 7 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
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Origin

Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡɯːm): phonetic 今 (OC *krɯm) + semantic 口 (“mouth”).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mV-kəm (“to put into mouth; to seize with mouth”) (STEDT, under *gam); cognate with Tibetan འགམ་པ ('gam pa, “to put into the mouth”), Proto-Tani *g(j)am (“bite”).

Within Chinese, cognate with 函 (OC *ɡuːm, *ɡruːm, “to contain; box; letter”) (Schuessler, 2007). 銜 (OC *ɡraːm, “to carry in the mouth; horse's bit”) is probably related. Bodman (1980) considers 頷 (OC *ɡɯːm, *ɡɯːmʔ) to be the endoactive of 含 (OC *ɡɯːm, “to hold in the mouth”), literally “the thing that holds something in the mouth”.

Etymology 2

Exoactive or causative of etymology 1 (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with 憾 (OC *ɡɯːms, “to resent”).

Etymology 3

Ultimately from Hebrew חָם.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*mV-kəm “to put into mouth; to seize with mouth”
  • soundChinese今 “now; at present; current”
  • meaningChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • derived (ultimately)Hebrewחָם

Related: Tibetan འགམ་པ, Proto-Tani *g(j)am

Words built on it: 包含, 含量, 含有

Meanings

character
  1. to hold or keep in the mouth
  2. to contain inside; to comprise; to include
  3. to bear; to endure
  4. to harbor (emotion); to nurse; to endure; to hold back
  5. a surname, Han

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

含：嗛也。从口今聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 東西放在嘴裡，不吐出也不吞下。 例：這種藥片是用口含的。　◎
  2. 裡面藏著，存在著。 例：含水分、含養分、含苞待放
  3. 包容、容納。 例：包含、含意深遠
  4. 懷著。 例：含羞帶怯、含情脈脈
  5. 忍受、忍耐。 例：茹苦含辛

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

How 含 was written 字形演變

  1. 含 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  2. 含 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 含 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: 含