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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

根

gēn
root (Classifier: 條／条 m)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 木
  • 10 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *kɯːn): semantic 木 + phonetic 艮 (OC *kɯːns).

Possibly of Austroasiatic origin (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *(d)kər (“tree, plant”) (whence Proto-Vietic *kəl > Vietnamese cây, Muong câl), *d₂gəl ~ d₂g(əə)l (“trunk; stump”) (whence Khmer គល់ (kŭəl, “stump; floating log”), Proto-Monic *t(l)gəl (“stump”)).

Alternatively, Smith (2011) proposes a derivation from 荄 (OC *kɯː, “grassroot”) with redundant nominalizing suffix *-n. See 荄 for more.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese木 “tree; woody plant”
  • soundChinese艮 “one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦, symbolizing mountains. (☶)”
    • ideaChinese目 “eye (Classifier: 雙／双 mn-t)”
    • ideaChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”

Related: Proto-Mon-Khmer *(d)kər, Proto-Vietic *kəl, Vietnamese cây, Muong câl, Khmer គល់

Words built on it: 根本

Meanings

character
  1. root (Classifier: 條／条 m)
  2. base; basis; foundation
  3. family root; ancestors
  4. descendant; offspring
  5. source; origin
  6. penis (Classifier: 條／条 m)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

根：木株也。从木艮聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 植物的基部，多半長在土裡，具有固定、吸收或貯藏水分、養分的功能。 例：樹根、草根
  2. 物體的基部、底部。 例：耳根、牙根、髮根
  3. 事物的本源。 例：禍根、病根
  4. 事物的存底。 例：票根、存根
  5. 深植。 例：根植
  6. 澈底。 例：根絕、根除

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

How 根 was written 字形演變

  1. 根 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  2. 根 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 根 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: 根