Chinese

石油

shíyóu
oil; petroleum
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 5

Etymology graph

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Origin

First attested in 1086–1093, in Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays, where the oil was used as ink by the author:

:

Compare petroleum with a nearly identical word-formation.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • characterChinese石 “stone; rock (Classifier: 嚿 c; 塊／块 c)”
  • characterChinese油 “name of an ancient river”
    • meaningChinese水 “water (Classifier: 瓶 m; 樽 c; 滴 m c; 池 m c; 盆 m c; 杯 m c)”
    • soundChinese由 “cause; reason”

Sources