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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

圓

yuán
circle; sphere
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 囗
  • 13 strokes
  • 园

Etymology graph

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɢon): semantic 囗 + phonetic 員 (OC *ɢon, *ɢun). The interior 口 is 〇, which is the original ideogram for the word "circle"; 鼎 and 囗 were added later.

Borrowed from Tocharian B wänt-, Tocharian A wänt- (“to envelop, to surround”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • borrowedTocharian Bwänt-
    • borrowedTocharian Awänt- “to envelop, to surround”
  • meaningChinese囗 “box, enclosure”
  • soundChinese員 “member”
    • soundChinese〇 “circle”
    • meaningChinese鼎 “ding (ancient large, three-legged bronze cauldron for cooking or sacrificial rituals)”

Meanings

character
  1. circle; sphere
  2. circular; round; spherical
  3. satisfactory; thorough; tactful; comprehensive
  4. to perfect; to complete
  5. melodious; sweet and agreeable; smooth (of one's voice)
  6. Classifier for money.

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

圓：圜全也。从囗員聲。讀若員。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 從中心到周圍每一點的距離都相等的形體。 例：圓形、圓周
  2. 圓形的。 例：圓球、圓桌
  3. 周全。 例：圓滿、圓滑
  4. 使周全。 例：圓謊、自圓其說
  5. 量詞。計算錢幣的單位。一圓等於十角。 例：拾圓、伍圓

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

How 圓 was written 字形演變

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