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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

看

kàn
to look; to see; to watch
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 目
  • 9 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

The character 看 is an ideogrammic compound (會意) composed of the components 手 (hand) and 目 (eye). This formation represents the action of placing a hand above the eyes to gaze into the distance. The Shuowen Jiezi glosses the character as 睎也, noting it is composed of 目 (eye) under 手 (hand).

Beyond the primary sense of looking, watching, or reading, the character also carries meanings related to checking, visiting, or calling on someone. It can also mean to observe or to treat.

In terms of linguistic relations, the character is a cognate of the Proto-Tibeto-Burman reconstruction *ka(n/ŋ), meaning to know or to see. It is also related to the Tibetan word མཁན་པོ (mkhan po), meaning professor or abbot.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

「看」是一個會意字，由「手」與「目」兩個部分組成。其字形結構描述將手放在眼睛上方，用以遠眺。根據《說文解字》的記載，此字的意思是「睎也」，結構為「从手下目」。在最早的篆書與楷書紀錄中即可見此字。

在意義方面，「看」包含視、瞧、觀賞、對待，以及拜訪或探望。從語言學的角度來看，此字被認為是原始藏語-緬語重構詞 *ka(n/ŋ)（意為「知道；看見」）的同源詞，並可能與藏文 མཁན་པོ（意為「教授；住持」）有關。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)”
  • ideaChinese目 “eye (Classifier: 雙／双 mn-t)”

Related: Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ka(n/ŋ), Tibetan མཁན་པོ

Words built on it: 看到, 看法, 看病, 好看, 看見, 收看, 看上去

Wiktionary etymology text

Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 手 (“hand”) + 目 (“eye”) – to put a hand above eyes to gaze afar.

STEDT compares it to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ka(n/ŋ) (“to know; to see”).

Also compare Tibetan མཁན་པོ (mkhan po, “professor; abbot”) (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to look; to see; to watch
  2. to read
  3. to observe; to check
  4. to visit; to call on
  5. to think; to feel (that)
  6. to consider; to regard as; to treat like

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

看：睎也。从手下目。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 視、瞧。 例：看見、收看、觀看
  2. 觀賞。 例：看戲、看熱鬧、看風景
  3. 對待。 例：刮目相看、另眼看待
  4. 拜訪、探望。 例：他南下看老朋友去了。
  5. 估量、觀察判斷。 例：這個計畫，你看行得通嗎？
  6. 診斷醫治。 例：看病、看診

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

How 看 was written 字形演變

  1. 看 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 看 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

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 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: 看