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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

早

zǎo
early; in advance; soon
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 日
  • 6 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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  • sound component
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Origin

In late bronze inscriptions, the character became a phono-semantic compound (OC *ʔsuːʔ) consisting of the semantic component 日 (sun) and the phonetic component 棗 (OC *ʔsuːʔ). In small seal script, it is viewed as an ideogrammic compound of 日 (sun) and 甲 (first). The Shuowen Jiezi glosses the character as "morning," stating it consists of 日 above 甲.

Possible cognates for the sense of "early" include the Proto-Hmong-Mien *ntsi̯ouˣ (seen in White Hmong ntxov and Iu Mien nziou), Proto-Tai *ɟaːwꟲ (seen in Thai เช้า and Lü ᦋᧁᧉ), and Burmese စော.

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

根據《說文解字》，「早」意為晨間，由「日」在「甲」之上組成。在某些古代文獻中，也常使用 蚤（OC *ʔsuːʔ）來代替。值得注意的是，此字與古代版本的「是」無關，在該字中，其構成部分並非代表橡實，而是代表湯匙。

在語言學聯繫方面，「早」可能與原始苗瑤語 *ntsi̯ouˣ（意為「早」）同源，其後代包括白苗語的 ntxov 與瑤語的 nziou。此外，它也可能與原始傣語 *ɟaːwꟲ（意為「清晨」）同源，對應泰語的 เช้า (cháao) 與傣語的 ᦋᧁᧉ (tsaw²)，並與緬甸語的 စော (cau:, 「早」) 有相似之處。

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese日 “Sun”
  • soundChinese棗 “jujube; Chinese date”
  • ideaChinese甲 “shell; carapace”

Related: Proto-Hmong-Mien *ntsi̯ouˣ, White Hmong ntxov, Iu Mien nziou, Proto-Tai *ɟaːwꟲ, Thai เช้า, Lü ᦋᧁᧉ, Burmese စော

Words built on it: 早上, 草, 早已, 早晨, 早就, 早餐, 章

Wiktionary etymology text

Early bronze inscriptions: Pictogram (象形) – acorn. Original form of 皂 (OC *zuːʔ) through an intermediate variant 皁 (once also written as 草 (cǎo)). Borrowed phonetically for "morning" sense.

Late bronze inscriptions: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ʔsuːʔ): semantic 日 (“sun”) + phonetic 棗 (OC *ʔsuːʔ), with 棗 sometimes simplified as 朿.

Small seal script: Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 日 (“sun”) + 甲 (“first”) – when the sun first rises. However, Xu Shen's interpretation is not based on oracle bones and bronzes inscriptions.

In some ancient texts, 蚤 (OC *ʔsuːʔ) was often used instead.

Unrelated to the ancient version of 是: in this character, it doesn't represent an acorn but a spoon.

Possible cognate found in Proto-Hmong-Mien *ntsi̯ouˣ (“early”), whence White Hmong ntxov and Iu Mien nziou (Baxter and Sagart, 2014; Schuessler, 2007), and Proto-Tai *ɟaːwꟲ (“early morning”), whence Thai เช้า (cháao) and Lü ᦋᧁᧉ (tsaw²). Note also similarities to Burmese စော (cau:, “early”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. early; in advance; soon
  2. long ago; for a long time
  3. morning
  4. good morning
  5. before; in the past time
  6. breakfast

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

早：晨也。从日在甲上。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 天剛亮的時候。與「晚」相對。 例：清早、早上、一大早
  2. 晨間的。 例：早飯、早操、早班
  3. 較原時間提前，未到適當或預定時間的。 例：早婚、早產、早退
  4. 初時的、時間在前的。 例：早期
  5. 不晚。 例：由於天色尚早，他決定在此多留一會。

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

How 早 was written 字形演變

  1. 早 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 早 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 早 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 早 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 早 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 早 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
  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • 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: 早