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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

末

/mu̯ɔ⁵¹/
tip; treetop
  • Ideogram
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 木
  • 5 strokes

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Origin

Ideogram (指事): a tree (木) with its top highlighted with an extra stroke, implying the meaning of “apex”; contrast 本, 朱.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

Words built on it: 周末

Meanings

character
  1. tip; treetop
  2. effect; result
  3. late or the last stage; conclusion; close
  4. final; the last; concluding; closing; terminal
  5. insignificant; trivial; inferior; low-priority; low-class
  6. powder; fine particulate matter

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

末：木上曰末。从木，一在其上。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 物體的尾端、頂梢。 例：末梢、末端
  2. 比喻事物的枝節、不重要的部分。與「本」相對。 例：捨本逐末、本末倒置
  3. 時間處於最後的、結尾的部分。與「始」相對。 例：年末、歲末、清末
  4. 物體的碎屑或粉狀的東西。 例：藥末、粉末
  5. 一種戲劇腳色。通常扮演中年男子，又有正末、副末之分。

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

How 末 was written 字形演變

  1. 末 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 末 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 末 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 末 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 末 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: 末