源etymfun
About

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

由

yóu
cause; reason
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 田
  • 5 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow
Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.
Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

Pictogram (象形) – pictogram of new shoots or leaves growing from 木 (mù); possibly the original graph of 㽕 (yóu), with its upper part later extracted as 由 (yóu).

Alternatively interpreted as the upper part of the oracle-bone form of 柚 (yòu) (“pomelo”), depicting the fruit itself.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese囗 “box, enclosure”
  • partChinese十 “ten”

Words built on it: 自由, 油, 理由, 抽, 由於

Meanings

character
  1. cause; reason
  2. from
  3. by; through; via
  4. by
  5. because of; due to
  6. by means of

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 原因。 例：事由、原由、理由
  2. 聽任、任憑。 例：萬般皆是命，半點不由人。
  3. 遵循、沿襲。 例：率由舊章
  4. 介詞

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

How 由 was written 字形演變

  1. 由 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 由 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 由 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 由 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
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 由