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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

夜

yè
night
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 夕
  • 8 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *laːɡs): abbreviated phonetic 亦 (OC *laːɡ) + semantic 夕 (“moon”). 夕 (OC *ljaːɡ) may also serve as another phonetic component.

In the modern form, the phonetic 亦 (yì) is distorted into 亠 + 亻 + ㇏, with the right-falling stroke ㇏ merging into the semantic 夕 (xī).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ja-n (“night”) (STEDT); cognate with Mizo zân (“night”), Burmese ည (nya., “night”).

Schuessler (2007) believes 夜 (OC *laːɡs) and 夕 (OC *ljaːɡ) are distinct as Tibeto-Burman keeps the etyma *ja-n (“night”) and *rV-jak (“day; day (24 hours); night”) strictly separate. However, Baxter and Sagart (2014) suggest that 夜 (yè) and 夕 (xī) have clear etymological connections and thus reconstructs similar finals in both words.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*ja-n “night”
  • soundChinese亦 “also; too; likewise; still”
  • componentChinese亠 “couvercle (Kangxi radical)”
  • meaningChinese夕 “night; evening; dusk”
  • componentChinese亻 “Side form of the person (人 (rén)) radical.”
  • componentChinese㇏

Related: Mizo zân, Burmese ည

Words built on it: 半夜

Meanings

character
  1. night
  2. late (in the night)
  3. Classifier for the number of nights.
  4. night shift; night work

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

夜：舍也。天下休舍也。从夕，亦省聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 從天黑到天亮之間的一段時間。與「晝」、「日」相對。 例：晝長夜短、白天黑夜、夜以繼日

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

How 夜 was written 字形演變

  1. 夜 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 夜 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 夜 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  4. 夜 in Clerical script
    Clerical
    隸書
    Han
  5. 夜 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: 夜