Chinese

民族

mínzú
people; nation; nationality; ethnic group; minority; ethnos (Classifier: 個／个)
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 5

Etymology graph

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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

First attested in a 5th-century essay by Gu Huan (顧歡), which is reproduced in the 6th-century Book of Southern Qi (translation from Mather, 2005):

According to Ru (2001), 民族's early meaning was closer to 民眾 (“the general populace”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • characterChinese民 “people; citizens”
  • characterChinese族 “clan; family clan; tribe”
    • ideaChinese㫃 “appearance of flags flying”
    • ideaChinese矢 “arrow”

Sources