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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

每

měi
lush
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 毋
  • 7 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

Possibly an ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *mɯːʔ): semantic 屮 + phonetic 母 (OC *mɯʔ, “woman”). The top component resembling 屮 may represent a bamboo hairpin (笄) to indicate that the woman was at least 15 years old.

Alternatively, partly in accordance to the interpretation of Xu Shen, the sprout may indicate that the woman was considered adult and ready to be married and generate sons.

See the original form of 敖, in which the top component is the same. See also 毒.

The top component of the character is unrelated to 旅, 傷, 复, 乞 as well as 人.

;each, every

;lush

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese屮 “new birth of plant”
  • soundChinese母 “mother”

Words built on it: 海

Meanings

character
  1. lush
  2. every; each
  3. every time; each time
  4. often; frequently
  5. flourishingly
  6. a surname

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

每：艸盛上出也。从屮母聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 各個。 例：每件、每人、每時每刻
  2. 往往、常常。 例：他性格果決，處事每能當機立斷，屢立奇功。
  3. 凡是、只要。 例：每到假日，總有大量人潮湧向郊外。

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

How 每 was written 字形演變

  1. 每 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 每 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 每 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 每 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 每 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 每