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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

現

xiàn
present; current
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 玉
  • 11 strokes
  • 見
  • 见

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡeːns): semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 見 (OC *keːns, *ɡeːns) — to appear.

Stativized form of the transitive verb 見 (OC *keːns, “to see”), formed by a nasal prefix and expressing the sense "to be visible; to appear" (Mei, 2012).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese玉 “jade (originally nephrite, now also including jadeite)”
  • soundChinese見 “to see”
    • componentChinese目 “eye (Classifier: 雙／双 mn-t)”
    • componentChinese卩 “kneeling person”

Words built on it: 現在, 發現, 出現

Meanings

character
  1. present; current
  2. to appear; to manifest; to become visible
  3. on the spot; then and there
  4. ready; on hand
  5. cash
  6. clear; plain; distinct

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 顯出、顯露。 例：顯現、呈現、出現
  2. 即時、馬上。 例：現買現賣、現學現用
  3. 目前的、當前的。 例：現代、現況
  4. 實有的、目前有的。 例：現金、現貨
  5. 現金、現款的簡稱。 例：兌現、付現、貼現

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

How 現 was written 字形演變

  1. 現 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 現 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 現 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 現 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 現 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 現 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
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 現