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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

往

wǎng
to go, depart, head for
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 彳
  • 8 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Originally 㞷／𫭠, a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɢʷaŋ): semantic 止 (“foot”) + phonetic 王 (OC *ɢʷaŋ, *ɢʷaŋs); see also the top component of 出. Later 彳 was added to form 𢓸, a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɢʷaŋ): semantic 彳 (“to step”) + semantic 止 (“foot”) + phonetic 王 (OC *ɢʷaŋ, *ɢʷaŋs). Eventually, the right component was stylized into the unrelated 主. The footprint 屮 pointing upwards on top became a point as in the character 之.

See also 迋.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *waŋ (“to go; to come”). Cognate with Burmese ဝင် (wang, “to come in; to enter”), Tibetan འོང ('ong, “to come”), ཡོང (yong, “to come”). Related to 于 (OC *ɢʷa, “to go”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*waŋ “to go; to come”
  • meaningChinese止 “foot”
  • meaningChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
  • soundChinese王 “king; monarch”

Related: Burmese ဝင်, Tibetan འོང

Words built on it: 前往, 往往, 交往, 以往

Meanings

character
  1. to go, depart, head for
  2. to flee, escape
  3. to incline towards, look forward to
  4. to, towards (a direction or location)
  5. to, towards (a state)
  6. the past; past, former, previous

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

往：之也。从彳㞷聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 由此處到別處。與「來」、「返」相對。 例：前往、人來人往、往返費時
  2. 歸向。 例：嚮往、神往
  3. 交際、應酬。 例：交往
  4. 過去的、從前的。 例：往年、往事
  5. 昔時、故事。 例：鑑往知來
  6. 介詞。相當於「朝」、「向」，表示動作行為的方向。 例：往東走、往前看

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

How 往 was written 字形演變

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