Chinese

幽默

/joʊ̯⁵⁵ mu̯ɔ⁵¹/
quiet; tranquil
  • HSK 5
  • TOCFL 5

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Etymology 1

Of native origin, as the combination of 幽 (yōu, “dark”) and 默 (mò, “quiet”); attested in the Chu Ci (《楚辭·九章·懷沙》).

Etymology 2

Phono-semantic matching of English humor, adapted by linguist Lin Yutang in 1924.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • characterChinese幽 “dim; dark”
    • soundChinese𢆶 “minute; extremely small; tiny; infinitesimal”
    • meaningChinese山 “mountain; hill (Classifier: 座 m c; 粒 mn)”
  • characterChinese默 “to be silent; to keep quiet; to keep still”
    • soundChinese黑 “black”
    • meaningChinese犬 “dog”
  • borrowedEnglishhumor

Sources