Chinese
怎
/t͡sən²¹⁴/
how; why
- Phono-semantic compound 形聲
- HSK 1
- TOCFL 6
- radical 心
- 9 strokes
Etymology graph
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- derived
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- meaning component
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Origin
Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声): phonetic 乍 (OC *zraːɡs) + semantic 心 (“heart”).
First attested in the word 怎生 [10th c.] (Yuan et al., 1996).
Contraction of 作 (MC tsak) + some variant of 物 (MC mjut, “thing; what”), literally “to do what” (Norman, 1988). This is evidenced in forms found in the Tang and Song dynasties (Yuan et al., 1996): 作勿生 (MC tsak mjut sraeng) [8th c.], 作沒生 (MC tsak mwot sraeng) [8th c.], 作摩 (MC tsak ma) [10th c.], 作麼 (MC tsak maX) [10th c.].
From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lineage
Sources
- HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
- 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
- Written form — n/a
- Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wiktionary: 怎