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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

書

shū
book; codex (Classifier: 本 m c; 部 m c; 冊／册 m)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 曰
  • 10 strokes

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Origin

The character 書 is a phono-semantic compound. It consists of the semantic component 聿, which is the original form of 筆 (writing brush or pencil), and the phonetic component 者. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the character means 著 and is composed of 聿 with 者 providing the sound.

As a noun, it refers to books or codices containing text or drawings, letters, documents, or scripts and calligraphy. The character has been attested in bronze, chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts. While its formation is identified as a phono-semantic compound (reconstructed as *hlja), its precise origin is unknown.

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

「書」是一個形聲字。根據 Wiktionary 的分析，其構成方式為意義部分「聿」（意指書寫用的毛筆）加上聲音部分「者」。在《說文解字》中，則將其解釋為「著也」，並註明「从聿者聲」。

關於此字的起源，Schuessler (2007) 認為其來源不明。在文字發展的紀錄中，最早的字形可追溯至青銅器文字，隨後出現楚文字、秦文字、篆書，最後發展至楷書。根據《國語辭典》，「書」除了指代含有文字或圖畫的冊子，也包含信件、文件以及字體等含義。

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese聿 “original form of 筆／笔 (bǐ, “writing brush; pencil”)”
  • soundChinese者 “Used at the end of a command.”
Wiktionary etymology text

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *hlja): semantic 聿 (“writing brush”) + phonetic 者 (OC *tjaːʔ).

Unknown (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. book; codex (Classifier: 本 m c; 部 m c; 冊／册 m)
  2. letter; document
  3. Chinese character; writing; script
  4. the art of calligraphy
  5. ancient government post in charge of secretarial duties
  6. imperial edict

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

書：著也。从聿者聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 有文字或圖畫的冊子。 例：教科書、圖畫書、百科全書
  2. 信件。 例：家書、情書
  3. 文件。 例：證書、說明書
  4. 字體。 例：草書、楷書、隸書
  5. 寫、記載。 例：書寫、大書特書、振筆疾書

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

How 書 was written 字形演變

  1. 書 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 書 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 書 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 書 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 書 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 書