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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

外

wài
out; outside; external
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • radical 夕
  • 5 strokes

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ŋʷaːds): semantic 卜 + phonetic 月 (OC *ŋod).

According to 学研漢和大字典 (Gakken Kanwa Dai Jiten), it is also an ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意); 月 originally represents a crescent moon (i.e. the moon with part “missing” to the observer). The character is thus interpreted as representing divination based on the partial phase of the moon, implying the remaining visible part of the moon is the moon's ‘outside’.

In oracle bone script, 外 was written identical to 卜, but they were distinguished by the fact that 卜 has a horizontal bar extending to the inside of the tortoise shell, while 外 has a horizontal bar extending to the outside.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese卜 “to divine”
  • soundChinese月 “moon (Classifier: 輪／轮 m)”

Words built on it: 另外, 此外, 意外, 外交, 以外, 外地, 外套, 外面, 海外, 外國, 外界, 例外

Meanings

character
  1. out; outside; external
  2. beyond; above; in addition to; other than; except
  3. other; foreign; alien (not of one's own family, clan, locality, school, country, etc.)
  4. foreign country
  5. to alienate; to other; to exclude; to distance
  6. relatives of one's mother, sister or daughter

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

外：遠也。卜尚平旦，今夕卜，於事外矣。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 不屬於某一定的範圍內。與「內」、「裡」相對。 例：外面、門外、屋外　◎
  2. 稱母親、出嫁的姊妹、女兒家的親戚。 例：外甥、外孫、外祖父
  3. 非自己所在或所屬的。 例：外幣、外地、外族
  4. 特指外國。 例：古今中外、對外貿易
  5. 關係疏遠的。 例：見外、外人
  6. 非正式的。 例：外號、外史

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

How 外 was written 字形演變

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