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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

快

kuài
pleased; happy
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 心
  • 7 strokes

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Origin

The character 快 is a phono-semantic compound. It consists of the semantic component 忄, representing the heart, and the phonetic component 夬. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the character means "pleased" (喜也) and is composed of the heart radical and the sound 夬.

Its meanings include being rapid, quick, or speedy, acting as the opposite of 慢. It also refers to being sharp or sharp-edged, or the sense of being about to happen. While the components are identified, the precise origin remains unknown. The oldest attested scripts for this character include chu, seal, and regular scripts.

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”
  • soundChinese夬 “resolute”

Words built on it: 快速, 加快, 快樂, 快要, 愉快

Wiktionary etymology text

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *kʰʷraːds): semantic 忄 + phonetic 夬 (OC *kʷraːds).

Unknown (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. pleased; happy
  2. forthright; plainspoken
  3. rapid; quick; speedy; fast
  4. sharp; sharp-edged
  5. keen; quick-witted
  6. quickly; hurriedly

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

快：喜也。从心夬聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 速度迅捷的。與「慢」相對。 例：快車、快速、眼明手快　◎
  2. 趕緊。 例：這裡很危險，你快離開吧！
  3. 將要、就要。 例：我快畢業了！
  4. 鋒利、銳利。 例：快斧、快劍、快刀
  5. 爽直。 例：快人快語、心直口快
  6. 高興、歡喜、舒暢。 例：愉快、快樂、快活

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

How 快 was written 字形演變

  1. 快 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  2. 快 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 快 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
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 快