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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

畫

huà
to write; to draw; to paint
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 田
  • 12 strokes

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  • derived
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Origin

Li Shoukui (2016): Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡʷreːɡs, *ɡʷreːɡ): semantic 聿 (“brush”) + phonetic 規 (OC *kʷel). 規 (“compass”) appears in the oracle bone script in its pictographic protoform resembling a 乂. During the Western Zhou period, 周 was added as seen in the bronze inscriptions.

Traditionally explained as an ideogrammic compound of 聿 ("brush") + 画 ("a field (田) enclosed on four sides"). However, the ancient scripts do not depict a field.

畫 (OC *C-ɡʷˤrek-s, “drawing”) is exopassive derivation of 畫 (OC *ɡʷˤrek, “to draw”) (Schuessler, 2007; Baxter & Sagart, 2014). Schuessler additionally relates 畫 to 劃／划 (huá ~ huà) < 劃 (OC *ɡʷˤrek) "to plan, to delineate" < "to mark off" (Zuozhuan), "to cut open" (Wang, 1982) < "to cut (with a knife)" (SWJZ) (ibid.).

For more, see 劃／划 (huá).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese聿 “original form of 筆／笔 (bǐ, “writing brush; pencil”)”
  • soundChinese規 “dividers; measuring compass”
    • componentChinese夫 “male adult; man”
    • componentChinese見 “to see”
      • componentChinese目 “eye (Classifier: 雙／双 mn-t)”
      • componentChinese卩 “kneeling person”

Words built on it: 划, 劃

Meanings

character
  1. to write; to draw; to paint
  2. to divide by a line
  3. stroke of Chinese character

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

畫：界也。象田四界。聿，所以畫之。凡畫之屬皆从畫。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 區分、分界。 例：畫分、區畫
  2. 繪製、描繪。 例：畫圖、畫線、畫餅充飢　◎
  3. 圖、圖像。 例：山水畫、人物畫、如詩如畫
  4. 設計、籌謀。通「劃」。 例：計畫、策畫、籌畫
  5. 量詞。計算國字筆畫數的單位。 例：筆畫、人字二畫

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

How 畫 was written 字形演變

  1. 畫 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 畫 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 畫 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 畫 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 畫 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 畫