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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

害

hài
to harm; to maim; to injure
  • Ideogram
  • HSK 5
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 宀
  • 10 strokes

Etymology graph

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

Multiple theories:

* He Linyi (何琳儀): Ideogram (指事): a spear 𫲸 (now 𥎆) + a distinguishing mark 口.

* Li Xueqin (2012): Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声). The phonetic component is 𡩜 (xiàn).

* Guo Moruo (郭沫若), Dai Jiaxiang (戴家祥): Pictogram (象形), ancient form of 蓋 ("lid; cover").

* Gao Hongying (高鴻纓): Jiajie (假借), original character of 桷, borrowed for sound, which was a pictogram (象形) of a house's rafters (see 舍).

* Chen Bingxin (陳秉新): Original form of 𠤳, written as ⿷𠥓⿴害五 in bronze inscriptions, which itself is an ancient way of writing the 胡 in 胡簋.

* Shuowen Jiezi: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡaːds): semantic 宀 + semantic 口 + phonetic 丯 (OC *kreːds).

Cognate with 割 (OC *kaːd, “to cut”). See there for more.

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”
  • meaningChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • soundChinese丯

Words built on it: 害怕, 危害

Meanings

character
  1. to harm; to maim; to injure
  2. to cause to do; to result in (something unfavourable)
  3. to kill; to murder
  4. to suffer from
  5. to feel (an adverse sentiment)
  6. harm; disaster; calamity

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

害：傷也。从宀从口。宀、口，言从家起也。丯聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 災禍、破壞。 例：災害、蟲害、損害
  2. 壞處、缺點。 例：百害而無一利
  3. 無益的、不利的。與「益」相對。 例：害蟲、害鳥、害處
  4. 殺、傷。 例：殺害、謀財害命
  5. 妨礙、不利。 例：妨害、害群之馬、害人之心
  6. 心中感到不安、不舒服。 例：害怕、害羞、害臊

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

How 害 was written 字形演變

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