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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

寫

xiě
to place; to displace; to relocate
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 宀
  • 15 strokes
  • 䥱
  • 䥾

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Origin

The character 寫 is a phono-semantic compound. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, it means to place things and is composed of the semantic component 宀 and the phonetic component 舄. The component 宀 represents a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, and a main hall. The phonetic component 舄 refers to a shoe with an additional wooden sole.

In terms of usage, the character can mean to record language or writing, or to draw and depict. It also carries meanings related to placing, displacing, relocating, carrying, relaying, expressing, or pouring out things such as one's heart or troubles. It can further mean to exhaust or to write with a pen or brush. The character has been attested in qin, seal, and regular scripts.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese宀 “a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms”
  • soundChinese舄 “shoe with an additional wooden sole”
Wiktionary etymology text

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *sjaːʔ): semantic 宀 + phonetic 舄 (OC *sʰjaːɡ, *sʰaɡ, *sjaːɡ, *sjaːɡ).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to place; to displace; to relocate
  2. to carry; to relay
  3. to express; to pour out (one's heart, troubles, etc.); to exhaust
  4. to write (with a pen, brush, etc.); to write down
  5. to copy; to transcribe
  6. to follow; to describe; to depict

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

寫：置物也。从宀舄聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 記錄語言、文字的動作。 例：寫字、默寫、寫稿子　◎
  2. 描繪、摹畫。 例：寫景、寫生

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

How 寫 was written 字形演變

  1. 寫 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  2. 寫 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 寫 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

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 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: 寫