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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

發

fā
to shoot; to launch
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 癶
  • 12 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Pictogram (象形) (OC *pad) — a bow firing an arrow. A hand (攴) was added later, forming 㢭. The hand further turned into the phonetic component 癹 (OC *pʰaːd, *baːd), leading to the current form as a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声).

STEDT compares 發 (OC *pad) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-p(r)ats (“to vomit”), whence Proto-Lolo-Burmese *C-pat (“to vomit”) (> Burmese ပစ် (pac, “to shoot, to throw, to eject”)) and Jingpho ǹ-phàt (“to vomit”).

According to Schuessler (2007), this is an area word; compare Proto-Vietic *ɓah (“to vomit”), Mon ပန် (“to shoot”).

A derivation is probably 廢 (OC *pads, “to cast aside”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

Related: Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-p(r)ats, Proto-Lolo-Burmese *C-pat, Burmese ပစ်, Jingpho ǹ-phàt, Proto-Vietic *ɓah, Mon ပန်

Words built on it: 發現, 發生, 發展

Meanings

character
  1. to shoot; to launch
  2. to issue
  3. to distribute
  4. to ship; to send for delivery
  5. to post; to send message
  6. to publish

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

發：䠶發也。从弓癹聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 放射。 例：發射、彈無虛發、百發百中
  2. 散開。 例：發汗、揮發、蒸發
  3. 開始行動或啟動。 例：發動、出發、朝發夕至
  4. 送出、交付。與「收」相對。 例：發信、發稿、發薪
  5. 打開、揭露。 例：發掘、揭發、發人隱私
  6. 顯現在外

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

How 發 was written 字形演變

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