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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

安

ān
calm; peaceful; tranquil; quiet
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 4
  • radical 宀
  • 6 strokes

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  • derived
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *qaːn): semantic 宀 + phonetic 女₂ (*ʔˤan, “a seated 女 on a cushion”). 安 is the original character of 安坐 (ānzuò, “to sit at ease”).

; calm; peaceful

: Cognate with 按 (OC *qaːns, “to push down with hand”), an exoactive derivative, literally “to cause to be settled; calmed” (ibid.).

: Starostin reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔɨāɫ (“rest”), comparing it to Mizo âwl (“to rest”) (and also noting Dhimal [script needed] (el-ka, “good”)). STEDT, however, traces the Mizo word to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-grwal ~ *ʔwal (“finish, loose, relax”) and did not list 安 (OC *qaːn) among its comparanda: namely 完 (OC *ɦŋoːn), 緩 (OC *ɢʷaːnʔ), 諼 (OC *qʰʷan, *qʰʷanʔ), 援 (OC *ɢʷans, *ɢʷan).

; where; how

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese宀 “a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms”
  • soundChinese女₂ “a seated 女 on a cushion”

Related: Mizo âwl, Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-grwal ~ *ʔwal

Words built on it: 安全, 按, 安排, 平安, 不安, 晚安, 案, 保安, 安置

Meanings

character
  1. calm; peaceful; tranquil; quiet
  2. comfortable; at ease
  3. safe; secure
  4. to calm; to pacify
  5. to feel satisfied with
  6. to find a place for; to plant

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

安：靜也。从女在宀下。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 平靜的、穩定的。 例：安寧、安定、安穩
  2. 使心情平靜、安定。 例：安慰、安心、稍安勿躁
  3. 滿足於某一狀況。 例：安貧樂道、安之若素
  4. 安全、不危險。與「危」相對。 例：飛安、居安思危、轉危為安
  5. 裝置、設置。 例：安裝、安置、安插
  6. 存著、懷著。 例：誰知道他安的是什麼心？

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

How 安 was written 字形演變

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