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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

打

dǎ
to hit; to strike; to slap; to beat
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 5
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 手
  • 5 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *rteŋʔ, *teːŋʔ): semantic 扌 (“hand”) + phonetic 丁 (OC *rteːŋ, *teːŋ).

This post-classical word (its earliest extant attestation is in Shuowen) was pronounced *teŋ in Late Old Chinese, as would be expected from a 丁 phonetic. By the early Ming period, the character had been borrowed (訓讀/训读) for another word with the same meaning but a different pronunciation, without the nasal ending. This may be related to the previous reading, as a dialectal variant. In Mandarin and some other varieties, the new reading became standard; however, derivations of the older pronunciation are still used in other varieties such as Wu and Min Nan, as well as Vietnamese (đánh).

It has been compared to Mizo dêng (“to throw; to fling; to hammer”) and proposed to be from Sino-Tibetan (Schuessler, 2007). Also compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *dah ~ daʔ (“to hit, to meet”), whence Mon ဒး (tɛ̀h, “to hit (a mark), meet with, reach [goal], be correct, apposite, to fit”) and Khmer ទះ (tĕəh, “to slap, to strike”).

Vietnamese đá (“to kick”), despite superficial semantic and phonetic similarities, as well as Nôm attestations of 打 being used to write the Vietnamese term, appears to be unrelated.

The pronunciation da is recorded in 六書故 as 都假切.

Etymology 2

Short for 打臣, from English dozen.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻/只 m c mn; 雙/双 m mn; 對/对 c)”
  • soundChinese丁 “the fourth of the ten heavenly stems”
  • derivedEnglishdozen “A set of twelve.”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishdozen
      • derivedOld Frenchdozaine “a group of twelve”
    • derivedEnglisha “The first letter of the English alphabet, written in the Latin script.”
      • derived (possibly)Englishthe “...because it has already been mentioned, is to be completely specified in the same sentence, or ve…”
      • derivedEnglishwhich “What, of those mentioned or implied.”
      • derivedEnglishleer “To look sideways or obliquely; now especially with sexual desire or malicious intent.”
      • derivedEnglishflap “Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily …”
      • derivedEnglishjam “A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast o…”
      • derivedEnglishwindow “An opening, usually covered by one or more panes of clear glass, to allow light and air from outsid…”
      • derivedEnglishwind “Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pr…”
      • partEnglishAllhallowmas “All Saints' Day.”
      • derivedEnglishbog “An area of decayed vegetation (particularly sphagnum moss) which forms a wet spongy ground too soft…”
      • derivedEnglishclosing “The act by which something is closed.”
      • derivedEnglishBritain “The United Kingdom, a kingdom and country in Northern Europe including the island of Great Britain …”
      • derivedEnglishsoylent “An undesirable, lackluster, and artificial foodstuff, as a substitute for real meat.”
      • derivedEnglishCicero's
      • partEnglishThomas “An infidel or doubter.”
      • derivedEnglishMiddle “A sheading of the Isle of Man.”
      • derivedEnglishan “Used before a vowel sound.”
      • derivedEnglishbradán “salmon”
      • derivedEnglishrotary “Capable of rotation.”
      • derivedEnglishwithin “In the inner part, spatially; physically inside.”
      • derivedEnglisheating “Bred to be eaten.”
      • derivedEnglishblue “Of a blue hue.”
      • borrowedEnglishFrench “The language of France, shared by the neighboring countries Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland and by…”
      • partEnglishStanley “A habitational surname from Old English.”
      • derived (possibly)EnglishCarolina “A female given name from Latin, Latinate form of Caroline; rare in English.”
      • derivedEnglishlate “Near the end of a period of time.”
      • derivedEnglishtso
      • derivedEnglishteneō “to hold, to retain”
      • derived (possibly)Englishtechnical “Specifically related to a particular discipline.”
      • derivedEnglishwaffle “A flat pastry pressed with a grid pattern, often eaten hot with butter and/or honey or syrup.”
      • derivedEnglishHugh “A male given name from the Germanic languages.”
      • derivedEnglishWilkin “A surname originating as a patronymic.”
      • derivedEnglishJohan “A female given name from Hebrew.”
      • derivedEnglishMonty “A diminutive of the male given names Montgomery and Montague.”
      • derivedEnglishRichard “A male given name from the Germanic languages.”
      • derivedEnglishMassachusett “A Native American tribe who traditionally live in the Massachusetts Bay area in the state of Massac…”
      • derivedEnglishDravidian “A family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and…”
      • derivedEnglishOld “A surname.”
      • partOld Englishdū̆ce “duck”
      • derivedEnglishtolowechek' “I speak Tolowa”
      • derivedEnglishpuff “A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth.”
      • derivedEnglishBela “A short river in south Cumbria, England, which flows into the estuary of the River Kent; in full, t…”
      • derivedEnglishole “An interjection used to stir up excitement.”
      • derivedEnglishsense “Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hea…”
      • derivedEnglishpituitary “Of or relating to the pituitary gland.”
      • derivedEnglishvariable “Able to vary or be varied.”
      • derivedEnglishBolama “One of the islands of the Bijagós Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau”
      • derivedEnglishleg “A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.”
      • derivedEnglishThe
      • derived (possibly)Englishtransport “To carry or bear from one place to another; to remove; to convey.”
      • derivedEnglishNovak “A surname.”
      • derivedEnglishvan “A covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cu…”
      • derivedEnglishਰਾਵਾ “commander, king”
      • derivedEnglishof “From (a place); off.”
      • derivedEnglish1535:
      • derivedEnglishabfraction “A proposed mechanism for noncarious tooth tissue loss, owing not to decay but rather to biomechanic…”
      • derivedEnglishhide “To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover.”
      • derivedEnglishLa “A surname”
      • derivedEnglishMargaret “A female given name from Ancient Greek.”
      • derivedEnglishhis “Belonging to him.”
      • derived (possibly)Old Norsein
      • derivedClassical Latinumbilicus
      • derivedEnglishmy “Belonging to me.”
      • calqueJapanese頭
      • derivedEnglishbloodroot “A North American plant, Sanguinaria canadensis, of the poppy family, which has a red root and sap a…”
      • derivedEnglishwet “Made up of liquid or moisture, usually (but not always) water.”
      • derivedEnglishWilliam “radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter W.”
      • derivedEnglishobscurity “Darkness; the absence of light.”
      • derivedEnglishc.
      • derivedEnglishother “See other (determiner) below.”
      • derivedOld EnglishTæbba
      • calque (possibly)Englishthe “...because it has already been mentioned, is to be completely specified in the same sentence, or ve…”
      • derivedEnglishclassic “Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.”
      • derivedEnglishKlemens
      • derivedEnglishtea “The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.”
      • derivedEnglishCritique
      • partEnglisheven “Flat and level.”
      • partEnglishthe “...because it has already been mentioned, is to be completely specified in the same sentence, or ve…”
      • partEnglishknife “A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually stee…”
      • partOld Englishworþ “enclosure”
      • inheritedMiddle Englisha
      • inheritedMiddle Englishof
      • inheritedMiddle Englishaw
      • borrowedRussianа

Related: Mizo dêng, Proto-Mon-Khmer *dah, Mon ဒး, Khmer ទះ

Words built on it: 打算, 打工, 打破, 打球, 打電話, 打印, 打折, 打架

Meanings

character
  1. to hit; to strike; to slap; to beat
  2. to break by hitting or striking
  3. to play (a percussion instrument)
  4. to fight; to attack
  5. the act of beating up
  6. to get; to fetch

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

打:擊也。从手丁聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 敲撞、敲擊。 例:打擊、打鐵、打字  ◎
  2. 鬥毆、戰鬥。 例:打架、攻打、武打
  3. 發出、射出。 例:打電話、打電報
  4. 除去、消去。 例:打胎、打消
  5. 編織、製造。 例:打結、打刀、打毛衣
  6. 塗抹。 例:打蠟、打粉底

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

How 打 was written 字形演變

  1. 打 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 打 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: 打