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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

民

mín
people; citizens
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 3
  • radical 氏
  • 5 strokes

Etymology graph

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

Pictogram (象形) 民 (OC *min, “the people”): the oracle bone script forms resemble an eye pierced by a cross-shaped sharp implement. The graph may be connected with eye impairment or unclear vision, compare 泯 (OC *min, *minʔ), 眠 (OC *miːn), and 眄 (OC *meːnʔ, *meːns); the Shiji has , while the Hanshu writes 泯 (mǐn) for 眠.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-mi(j)-n (“people, man, human being”). Cognate with Tibetan མི (mi) and Dzongkha མི (mi).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*r-mi(j)-n “people, man, human being”

Related: Tibetan མི, Dzongkha མི

Words built on it: 人民, 民族, 公民, 居民, 移民, 民主, 市民

Meanings

character
  1. people; citizens
  2. folk; popular
  3. the peasant class; common people
  4. member of an ethnic group
  5. person of a particular occupation
  6. civilian

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

民：眾萌也。从古文之象。凡民之屬皆从民。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 人、人類、百姓。 例：人民、平民、庶民
  2. 非官方的、民間的。 例：民航、民營、民謠
  3. 從事某種職業的人。 例：農民、漁民、牧民

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

How 民 was written 字形演變

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