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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

從

cóng
to follow; to come after
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 彳
  • 11 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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  • sound component
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Origin

The character 從 is a phono-semantic compound. It consists of the semantic component 辵, meaning "to walk for a while and be still for a while," and the phonetic component 从. The component 辵 is composed of 彳, meaning "to walk slowly," and 止, meaning "foot." According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the character means to accompany someone, using 辵 and 从, with 从 also serving as the phonetic component.

The etymology is uncertain. It is possibly cognate with the Tibetan རྫོང་བ (rdzong ba), meaning "to dispatch; to dismiss," or the Tibetan སྟོངས་པ (stongs pa), meaning "to accompany." It may also be compared to 送 (OC *sloːŋs), meaning "to escort; to send."

The character has been attested in oracle, bronze, chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts.

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese辵 “to walk for a while and be still for a while”
    • ideaChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
    • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • soundChinese从 “two people standing together”

Related: Tibetan རྫོང་བ, Tibetan སྟོངས་པ

Wiktionary etymology text

Originally written as 从. Now phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *zloŋ, *zloŋ, *zloŋs): semantic 辵 (“walk”) + phonetic 从 (OC *zloŋ, “follow”).

Etymology not certain. Perhaps cognate with Tibetan རྫོང་བ (rdzong ba, “to dispatch; to dismiss”) (Schuessler, 2007). Alternatively, compare Tibetan སྟོངས་པ (stongs pa, “to accompany”), or perhaps 送 (OC *sloːŋs, “to escort; to send”).

Pronunciation 2 is a derivation of pronunciation 1.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to follow; to come after
  2. to comply with; to submit to
  3. to follow the principle of
  4. to join; to be engaged in
  5. from (a place or time); since
  6. through; via; by

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

從：隨行也。从辵、从，从亦聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 跟隨。 例：跟從、隨從
  2. 依順。 例：從命、服從、言聽計從
  3. 參與、加入。 例：從事、從政、投筆從戎
  4. 向來。 例：他非常節儉，從不亂花用。
  5. 自、由、循。 例：從今以後、從寬辦理

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

How 從 was written 字形演變

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