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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

念

niàn
to miss; to long for; to think of; to recall
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 心
  • 8 strokes

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Origin

Zhang (2021): Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 亼 (“upside-down mouth”) + 心 (“heart”): to listen to one's heart. Original character for 念 (OC *nɯːms, “to think”).

Shuowen interprets 今 (OC *krɯm) to be a phonetic component, but the Old Chinese phonetics do not match.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-njam. Cognate with Tibetan ཉམ (nyam), ཉམས (nyams, “soul, mind, heart”), སྙམ (snyam, “to think, to feel”) (Quan, 1996). Related to 恁 (OC *njɯm, *njɯmʔ, “to think, to miss”).

Schuessler (2007) notes it may be an area word; compare Khmer ចំណាំ (cɑmnam, “memory; recollection”), Proto-Austronesian *nəmnəm (“to think”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese今 “now; at present; current”
  • ideaChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”

Related: Tibetan ཉམ, Khmer ចំណាំ, Proto-Austronesian *nəmnəm

Words built on it: 概念, 想念

Meanings

character
  1. to miss; to long for; to think of; to recall
  2. to consider; to contemplate
  3. to worry; to be anxious about
  4. to feel compassion for; to pity
  5. to show tender affection for
  6. to commemorate; to memorialise; to pay tribute to

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

念：常思也。从心今聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 惦記、懷想。 例：想念、思念、掛念
  2. 吟誦、誦讀。通「唸」。 例：念書、念經、默念
  3. 心思、想法。 例：邪念、雜念
  4. 反反覆覆述說著。 例：念念有詞
  5. 讀、研習。 例：念大學
  6. 記住。 例：不念舊惡

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

How 念 was written 字形演變

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