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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

接

jiē
to come near to; to be close to; to come into contact
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 手
  • 11 strokes

Etymology graph

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

Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ʔseb): semantic 扌 + phonetic 妾 (OC *sʰeb) – to receive (in the hand).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsjap (“to join, connect”). Related to 際 (OC *ʔsleds, “connection, border”), as well as to Burmese စပ် (cap, “to adjoin”) (STEDT).

STEDT also adduces another family, with similar phonetics and semantics, which however does not appear to be related:

* 揖 (OC *qib, “to cluster together, crowd”)

* 輯 (OC *zib, “to gather up, fold up, be crowded together”)

* 集 (OC *zub, “to collect, come together, unite, accomplish”)

* 雜 (OC *zuːb, “variegated, mixed”)

Etymology 2

From 這／这.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*tsjap “to join, connect”
  • meaningChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)”
  • soundChinese妾 “slave woman”
    • ideaChinese辛 “spicy; hot; pungent”
    • ideaChinese女 “woman; (only of humans in Standard Chinese) female”

Related: Burmese စပ်

Words built on it: 直接, 接受, 接近, 接到, 迎接, 接待

Meanings

character
  1. to come near to; to be close to; to come into contact
  2. to receive
  3. to host; to receive or admit someone
  4. to catch
  5. to continue; to follow
  6. to take over

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

接：交也。从手妾聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 相交、相觸。 例：交頭接耳、短兵相接、四目相接
  2. 引領、招待。 例：接待、接機、迎接
  3. 收受。 例：接球、接電話　◎
  4. 承繼、延續。 例：接替、接力、傳宗接代

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

How 接 was written 字形演變

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