源etymfun
About

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

算

suàn
to count; to calculate; to figure
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 竹
  • 14 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow
Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.
Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

In current form, 竹 (“bamboo”) + 目 + 廾.

The 目 portion may have originally represented counting rods (or possibly an abacus, although the character is believed to predate its invention). Such rods were typically made from bamboo. Perhaps related to the top component of 學, hence to 爻.

Similar but unrelated to 具.

It has been compared with Tibetan གཤོར (gshor, “to count, to measure, to weigh”) by Gong (1995).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • componentChinese竹 “bamboo (Classifier: 枝; 棵 m; 根 m; 轆／辘 c)”
  • componentChinese目 “eye (Classifier: 雙／双 mn-t)”
  • componentChinese廾 “both hands”

Related: Tibetan གཤོར

Words built on it: 打算, 就算, 算是

Meanings

character
  1. to count; to calculate; to figure
  2. to plan; to arrange; to design
  3. to guess; to estimate; to approximate
  4. to regard as; to consider
  5. to count; to be of significance
  6. to let it pass; to give up

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

算：數也。从竹从具。讀若筭。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 核計數目。 例：算帳、結算、推算
  2. 謀劃、策劃。 例：盤算、失算、打算
  3. 歸屬於、當作。 例：這頓飯算我請客。
  4. 推測、判斷。 例：算命
  5. 計策、謀略。 例：勝算、神機妙算
  6. 作罷、不再計較。 例：這件事就算了，別再計較。

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

How 算 was written 字形演變

  1. 算 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  2. 算 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 算 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: 算