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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

急

jí
rapid; quick
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 心
  • 9 strokes

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *krɯb): phonetic 及 (OC *ɡrɯb) + semantic 心 (“heart”).

Etymology not clear. Not a variant of 亟 (OC *kɯɡ, “urgent”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Old Burmese ခုပ် (hkup, “swift, quick, urgent”) bears a resemblance to the Old Chinese lemma.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • soundChinese及 “to reach; to extend to; to reach the level of”
    • ideaChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
    • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
  • meaningChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”

Related: Burmese ခုပ်

Meanings

character
  1. rapid; quick
  2. urgent; pressing; critical
  3. urgency; emergency
  4. to hurry; to hasten
  5. to need to use the toilet urgently
  6. to be eager to help

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

急：褊也。从心及聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 沒耐心、焦躁的。 例：焦急、著急、急性子
  2. 匆忙。 例：急忙、急促
  3. 緊要迫切。與「緩」相對。 例：緊急、急切、輕重緩急
  4. 緊急嚴重的事。 例：告急、危急、救急
  5. 速度快且力道猛的。 例：急流、急病、急轉彎
  6. 令人著急。 例：車都快開了，他還不來，真急人！

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

How 急 was written 字形演變

  1. 急 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  2. 急 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 急 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 急