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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

本

běn
root; stem
  • Ideogram
  • HSK 6
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 木
  • 5 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Ideogram (指事): a tree (木 (mù)) with its bottom highlighted with an extra stroke, accentuating the roots; contrast 末, 朱.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *purl (“root; stump; tree”) (STEDT, under PTB *(b/p)ul). Cognate with Mizo bul (“cause; beginning; root; stump”), Jingpho phun (“tree; bush; stalk; wood”), Garo bol (“tree”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*purl “root; stump; tree”

Related: Mizo bul, Jingpho phun, Garo bol

Words built on it: 基本, 根本, 日本, 本子, 基本上, 本人, 成本, 笨, 本身, 本事

Meanings

character
  1. root; stem
  2. source; origin; root
  3. foundation; basis
  4. edition; version; copy
  5. originally; initially
  6. current; present

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

本：木下曰本。从木，一在其下。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 草木的根。 例：根本、本固枝茂
  2. 比喻事物的本原、根源，極重要的部分。與「末」相對。 例：本末倒置、助人為快樂之本
  3. 主要的、中心的。 例：本體、本位、校本部
  4. 起初的、原來的。 例：本意、本名、本性難移
  5. 現在的、目前的。 例：本月、本年度
  6. 稱自己或自己這方的。 例：本人、本縣、本報訊

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

How 本 was written 字形演變

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