源etymfun
About

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

味

wèi
taste; flavor
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 口
  • 8 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow
Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.
Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

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

Schuessler (2007) compared this word with Proto-Monic *[ʔ]məp (“good tasting, have a pleasant flavour, be pleasant”) > Mon မိပ် (mìp, “to be happy, to enjoy”). Unger (1992) connects this with Tibetan བྲོད (brod) (< བྲོ (bro, “to taste”)). Also compare Korean 맛 (mat, “taste”), 멋 (meot, “taste; charm”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • soundChinese未 “to have not; not yet”

Related: Mon မိပ်, Tibetan བྲོད

Words built on it: 味道

Meanings

character
  1. taste; flavor
  2. smell; odor (Classifier: 股 m; 𠹻 c)
  3. food
  4. to taste; to reflect on; to experience
  5. interest; fun; taste
  6. Classifier for ingredients of a Chinese medicine prescription.

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

味：滋味也。从口未聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 舌頭嚐東西所得到的感覺。 例：口味、津津有味
  2. 鼻子聞東西所得到的感覺。 例：香味、臭味
  3. 感受、旨趣、意義。 例：趣味、禪味
  4. 量詞。計算食物或中藥的單位。 例：菜五味、藥八味

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

How 味 was written 字形演變

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