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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

沒

méi
not have; there is not; to be without
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 水
  • 7 strokes
  • 歿
  • 殁

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Origin

The character 沒 is a phono-semantic compound consisting of the semantic component 水 (water) and the phonetic component 𠬛. The Shuowen Jiezi glosses the character as meaning "to sink" (沈也), noting it follows the components 水 and 𠬛. It is used to indicate the absence of something, to negate the existence of 有 (to have), to denote that something has already occurred, or to express that something is less than or not as much as something else.

Schuessler (2007) suggests the form may have resulted from the convergence of two etyma. One possible origin is the Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mit ("to extinguish"). Another possible origin is an etymon meaning "to dive," which is a cognate of the Burmese မြုပ် ("to sink; to be submerged"); this Burmese term is a loan from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(b)ləp ("to immerse"). It is possibly a colloquial variant of 勿 or 未 that was influenced by or fused with 有, rather than being derived from the Old Chinese form *mɯːd meaning "to dive; to drown."

Confidence: medium · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

「沒」字在意義上包含否定「有」的否定前綴、表示不具備、不存在、不如、不到或不足等用法。根據 Schuessler (2007) 的研究，此字可能是由兩個語源匯聚而成。其一可能源自原始漢藏語 *mit（意為「熄滅」），其中 i 與 u 的交替在漢藏語系中是常見現象；其二則與「潛入」的語源有關，這與緬甸語မြုပ်（意為「沉沒；淹沒」）有關，而後者被認為是借自原始莫尼- Khmer語的 *(b)ləp（意為「浸入」）。

另一種觀點認為，「沒」可能是「勿」（中古音 mjut）或「未」（中古音 mj+jH）的口語變體，並與「有」（中古音 hjuwX）融合或受到其影響。Schuessler (2007) 指出，此字並非源自於上古音 *mɯːd（意為「潛水；溺水」）的「沒」。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese水 “water (Classifier: 瓶 m; 樽 c; 滴 m c; 池 m c; 盆 m c; 杯 m c)”
  • soundChinese𠬛 “(= 沒 /没) to dive into water to get something”

Related: Burmese မြုပ်, Proto-Mon-Khmer *(b)ləp

Words built on it: 沒有

Wiktionary etymology text
Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *mɯːd): semantic 水 (“water”) + phonetic 𠬛.

Possibly a colloquial variant of 勿 (MC mjut) or 未 (MC mj+jH), which fused with or was influenced by 有 (MC hjuwX); not derived from 沒 (OC *mɯːd, “to dive; to drown”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Etymology 2

According to Schuessler (2007), formed from the convergence of two etyma:

* Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mit (“to extinguish”). The i ~ u alternation is a common phenomenon in Sino-Tibetan.

* An etymon meaning "to dive", whence Burmese မြုပ် (mrup, “to sink; to be submerged”), which is a loan from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(b)ləp (“to immerse”) according to Shorto (1972).

Unrelated to etymology 1.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. not have; there is not; to be without
  2. to be not so ... as (when comparing)
  3. less than; no more than
  4. Negative prefix for verb 有 (yǒu, “to have”).
  5. have not or did not (negative prefix for verbs, translated into other languages with verbs in the past tense)
  6. to pass away

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

沒：沈也。从水从𠬸。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 表示具有或存在的否定。 例：沒緣、沒錢
  2. 表示曾經或已經的否定。 例：沒來、沒說
  3. 不如。 例：我沒他有學問。
  4. 不到、不足。 例：他只來了一下，沒五分鐘就走了。

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

How 沒 was written 字形演變

  1. 沒 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  2. 沒 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 沒 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

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 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: 沒