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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

更

/kɤŋ⁵⁵/
to change; to replace
  • ideogrammic compound
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 曰
  • 7 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Originally an ideogrammic compound, the character showed two chariots (丙). According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the form was later developed into a phono-semantic compound (形聲) consisting of the semantic component 攴 (a hand holding a whip or the action of hitting lightly) and the phonetic component 𰀒 (abbreviated from "two chariots"). The Shuowen gloss describes the character as 改也 (to change).

In this development, the component 攴 was added while a 丙 was omitted. The remaining 丙 eventually corrupted into a shape similar to 雨. The character appears in several attested scripts, including oracle, bronze, chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts. Its Old Chinese reconstruction is *kraːŋ or *kraːŋs.

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

「更」字最初是一個會意字，由兩個「丙」（兩輛戰車）組成。後來在結構上加入了「攴」部，並省略了其中一個「丙」，形成了《說文解字》中所記載的形聲字結構。其構成方式為由代表「兩輛戰車」的「𰀒」作為聲符，以及代表「手持鞭子、進行動作」的「攴」作為形符。在演變過程中，殘留的「丙」部最終演變成了類似「雨」的形狀。

根據《說文解字》，此字的意思是「改」，從「攴」並以「丙」為聲。在字義上，它包含改變、替換、輪流、更迭、經歷等含義，亦指《太玄經》中的第二十八卦。此外，《國語辭典》記載其含有「愈」與「再」的意思。此字最早見於甲骨文，隨後在 bronze、楚、秦、小篆及楷書等字體中均有出現。

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

Lineage

  • soundChinese𰀒 “two chariots”
  • meaningChinese攴 “to hit lightly; to tap”

Words built on it: 更加, 便, 硬, 更新

Wiktionary etymology text

Originally an ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意), showing two chariots (丙). Later 攴 was added and a 丙 omitted to create the form seen in the Shuowen Jiezi (㪅), a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *kraːŋ, *kraːŋs): abbreviated phonetic 𰀒 (“two chariots”) + semantic 攴 (“hand holding a whip; action”). The remaining 丙 eventually corrupted into a shape similar to 雨.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to change; to replace
  2. to take turns; to rotate
  3. to experience
  4. 28th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "change" (𝌡)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

更：改也。从攴丙聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 愈、再。 例：更好、更加努力、更進一步

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

How 更 was written 字形演變

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