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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

機

jī
weaving machine; spinning machine
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • radical 木
  • 16 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *kɯl): semantic 木 + phonetic 幾 (OC *kɯl, *kɯlʔ, *ɡɯl, *ɡɯls).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese木 “tree; woody plant”
  • soundChinese幾 “how much; how many”
    • ideaChinese𢆶 “minute; extremely small; tiny; infinitesimal”
    • ideaChinese戍 “to defend the frontier; (in general) to defend; to garrison”
      • ideaChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
      • ideaChinese戈 “dagger-axe (an ancient Chinese weapon similar to a halberd)”

Words built on it: 机, 手機, 機會, 飛機, 機場

Meanings

character
  1. weaving machine; spinning machine
  2. machine; apparatus; device
  3. flight (Classifier: 班 m c)
  4. mechanism; process
  5. cause; reason
  6. secret; confidential (affair)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

機：主發謂之機。从木幾聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 織布的器具。 例：機杼
  2. 時宜、際會。 例：時機、投機、隨機應變
  3. 靈巧、智巧。 例：機智、機巧、機警
  4. 重要的、祕密的。 例：軍事機密、機要祕書
  5. 事物發生、變化的原由。 例：動機
  6. 存於內心的欲望、俗念。 例：心機、陶然忘機

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

How 機 was written 字形演變

  1. 機 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 機 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: 機