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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

深

shēn
deep
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 水
  • 11 strokes

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *hljum, *hljums): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 𥥍.

Unger (1995) suggests that 深 (shēn) had Old Chinese initial *n- because of 淰 (shěn)'s phonetic component 念 (niàn).

Schuessler (2007) reconstructs 深 (OC *nhəm) & proposes relations to Mizo hniam (“to be low, to sink into (land)”), Burmese နိမ့် (nim., “low”), Tangkhul Naga [script needed] (kʰənim, “to be humble”), Tibetan ནེམས་ (nems, “sink a little, give way”), which Schuessler traces to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *nem (“low”), which STEDT in turn derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-n(i/u)(ː)p/m ~ *r/s-nyap/m (“pinch, squeeze; press, oppress; submerge, sink into, west, low, soft”). If so, 深 (OC *nhəm) is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan.

Schuessler also notices 深 (OC *nhəm)'s similarity to 沉 (OC *d-ləm), which he considers to be an areal etymon.

Possibly cognate with 探 (tàn) and 揇 (nǎn) (however, see there).

深 (OC *nhəms), "depth" (in Rites of Zhou) & whence MC ɕiɪmᴴ, is nominal derivation with suffix *-s (> departing tone).

淰 (OC *nhəmʔ), "be startled and flee (of fish); i.e. to sink into the deep" (in Liji) & whence Mandarin shěn, is endoactive derivative with *-ʔ (> rising tone).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese水 “water (Classifier: 瓶 m; 樽 c; 滴 m c; 池 m c; 盆 m c; 杯 m c)”
  • soundChinese𥥍 “chimney of kitchen range”

Related: Mizo hniam, Burmese နိမ့်သေ, Tibetan ནེམས་, Proto-Tibeto-Burman *nem, Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-n(i/u)(ː)p/m ~ *r/s-nyap/m

Words built on it: 深刻, 深入, 深度

Meanings

character
  1. deep
  2. depth; deepness
  3. deep; profound
  4. great; profound; obtuse; obscure
  5. long
  6. deep; dark

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

深：水。出桂陽南平，西入營道。从水罙聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 水面到水底距離遠。引申指上下，裡外的距離大。與「淺」相對。 例：深海、深淵、深宅大院　◎
  2. 程度高。 例：這篇文章太深，小學生不易懂。
  3. 情意濃厚、密切。 例：一往情深、深情厚誼
  4. 色澤濃。 例：深藍、深綠
  5. 時間久或晚。 例：深秋、夜深人靜、年深日久
  6. 很、非常。 例：深信、深知、深得人緣

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

How 深 was written 字形演變

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