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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

石

shí
stone; rock (Classifier: 嚿 c; 塊／块 c)
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 石
  • 5 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

Etymology 1

Pictogram (象形): a stone beneath a cliff (厂). The cliff was subsequently distorted into 丆; compare 叚 , 段 as well as 度, 席.

Alternatively, a cave set into the side of a cliff or mountain.

Unknown.

Schuessler, (2007) proposes a probable relation Proto-Vietic *l-taːʔ (“stone”) (whence Vietnamese đá and Khmer ដា (daa, “rock; stone”))

Etymology 2

Borrowed from 擔／担 (dàn), after the shoulder pole used to carry such a mass of grain (Qiu, 1988, p. 220).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese一 “one”
  • partChinese丿 “left-falling stroke, usually read as 撇”
  • partChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • borrowedChinese擔／担

Words built on it: 度, 碗, 破, 石油, 碰, 確, 硬, 碼

Meanings

character
  1. stone; rock (Classifier: 嚿 c; 塊／块 c)
  2. gem; jewel; jade
  3. a surname
  4. picul, dan, a unit of dry measure

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

石：山石也。在厂之下；囗，象形。凡石之屬皆从石。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 由礦物集結而成的堅硬塊狀物，是構成地殼的物質。 例：礦石、岩石、花岡石
  2. 碑。 例：金石
  3. 姓。

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

How 石 was written 字形演變

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