源etymfun
About

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

新

xīn
new; fresh
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 斤
  • 13 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow
Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.
Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

The character 新 is a phono-semantic compound. It was originally the form for 薪 (firewood), which used the phonetic component 辛 and the semantic component 斤 (to chop wood). Through the process of jiajie, the character was later borrowed to represent the meaning "new." In bronze inscriptions, a semantic component 木 was added and merged with 辛. While the Shuowen gloss describes the character as being related to wood and having the sound of 斤, it misinterprets the components as 𣓀 and 斤.

This word may belong to the Proto-Sino-Tibetan stem *sreŋ, meaning "alive, fresh, green." Under this derivation, it is possibly related to 青 (green) and 薪 (firewood). The character is a cognate of the Burmese word သစ်, which can mean "new" or "wood; timber."

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

「新」的字形演變與「薪」有關。其原始形式為「薪」（上古音 *siŋ），由聲符「辛」（上古音 *siŋ）與意符「斤」組成。在青銅器銘文中，後來加入了表示木材的「木」部，並與「辛」合併。此字隨後透過假借，用來表示「新」（上古音 *siŋ）。

從語言學角度來看，「新」可能屬於原始漢藏語（Proto-Sino-Tibetan）詞幹 *sreŋ（意為「活的、新鮮的、綠色的」），因此可能與「青」（上古音 *sʰleːŋ）以及「薪」（上古音 *siŋ）有關。此外，「新」與緬甸語中的 သစ် (sac, 「新的」) 為同源詞；而「薪」則與緬甸語中的 သစ် (sac, 「木材」) 具有同源關係。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*sreŋ “alive, fresh, green”
  • soundChinese辛 “spicy; hot; pungent”
  • meaningChinese斤 “catty or jin, a traditional unit of weight, equal to 0.5 kilograms”

Related: Burmese သစ်

Words built on it: 重新, 新年, 新娘, 新聞, 更新, 新型

Wiktionary etymology text

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *siŋ): phonetic 辛 (OC *siŋ) + semantic 斤 — to chop wood. Original form of 薪 (OC *siŋ, “firewood”). The character was later borrowed to represent 新 (OC *siŋ, “new”) as an instance of jiajie (假借).

A semantic 木 was later added in the bronze inscriptions which merged with the 辛.

Shuowen misinterprets the character as 𣓀 + 斤.

Sino-Tibetan; cognate with Burmese သစ် (sac, “new”). Compare the cognacy between 薪 (OC *siŋ, “firewood”) and Burmese သစ် (sac, “wood; timber”).

This word may belong to the Sino-Tibetan stem Proto-Sino-Tibetan *sreŋ (“alive, fresh, green”) and may hence be related to 青 (OC *sʰleːŋ, “green”) as well as 薪 (OC *siŋ, “firewood”) (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. new; fresh
  2. new; unused
  3. recently or just married
  4. the new
  5. to make new
  6. newly; freshly; recently

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

新：取木也。从斤新聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 沒有使用過的。與「舊」相對。 例：新衣、新筆　◎
  2. 剛開始的、剛出現的。與「舊」相對。 例：新芽、新品種、舊愛新歡
  3. 革除舊的而成為新的、好的。 例：改過自新、日新又新
  4. 不久以前、剛才。 例：別把新買的衣服給弄髒了。
  5. 新疆省的簡稱。
  6. 朝代名。（西元9∼23）王莽篡西漢所建立的朝代。國號新，建都長安，史稱為「新莽」。後被劉秀所滅。

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

How 新 was written 字形演變

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

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 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: 新