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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

溫

/wən⁵⁵/
lukewarm; warm
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 水
  • 13 strokes

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Origin

Originally written as 𥁕 (OC *quːn), later a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声) with 氵 added.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese氵 “water”
  • partChinese昷

Meanings

character
  1. lukewarm; warm
  2. to warm up; to raise the temperature of
  3. to revise; to review; to go over; to brush up
  4. temperature
  5. tepid; mild; soft; tender; gentle
  6. irresolute; indecisive; weak

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

溫：水。出犍爲涪，南入黔水。从水𥁕聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 不冷不熱。 例：溫暖、溫水、溫帶
  2. 柔和、良善。 例：溫柔敦厚、溫文儒雅
  3. 使暖和。 例：溫酒、溫被
  4. 複習。 例：溫書、溫故而知新
  5. 冷熱的程度。 例：體溫、室溫、高溫
  6. 姓。

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

How 溫 was written 字形演變

  1. 溫 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 溫 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 溫 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  4. 溫 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

  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • 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: 溫