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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

此

cǐ
this
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 止
  • 6 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 止 (“feet”) + 人 (“person”) – where a person stops; here.

Alternatively, this may be the original form of 跐 (OC *ʔsreːʔ, *ʔseʔ, *sʰeʔ, *ʔsreʔ, “to stamp, to stop, to stand”).

Cognate with 斯 (OC *se, “this”).

STEDT compares 此 (OC *sʰeʔ) and 斯 (OC *se) to Proto-Tani *si (“this”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • ideaChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”

Related: Proto-Tani *si

Words built on it: 因此, 此外, 如此, 彼此

Meanings

character
  1. this
  2. here

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

此：止也。从止从匕。匕，相比次也。凡此之屬皆从此。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 這、這個。與「彼」相對。 例：顧此失彼、諸如此類、厚此薄彼
  2. 這裡、這兒。 例：由此前進、到此為止

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

How 此 was written 字形演變

  1. 此 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 此 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 此 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 此 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 此 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 此 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: 此