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

級

jí
level; rank; grade; class
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 糸
  • 10 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

Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *krɯb): semantic 糹 (“thread”) + phonetic 及 (OC *ɡrɯb). According to Shuowen Jiezi, the original meaning was referred to a "sequence" related to silk (絲的次第), however Xu Shen didn't specify the exact kind of sequence he was talking about.

Etymology 2

From English cup.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese糸 “thin silk”
  • soundChinese及 “to reach; to extend to; to reach the level of”
    • ideaChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
    • ideaChinese又 “again; once more”
  • borrowedEnglishcup “A concave vessel for drinking, usually made of opaque material (as opposed to a glass) and with a h…”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishcuppe
      • inheritedOld Englishcuppe
      • inheritedOld Englishcopp “top, summit, head”

Meanings

character
  1. level; rank; grade; class
  2. grade; form
  3. step
  4. beheaded head
  5. Classifier for steps.
  6. Classifier for level, ranks, grades, etc..

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

級：絲次弟也。从糸及聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 等第。 例：高級、特級、輔導級
  2. 學校按年齡所分的班次。 例：一年級、高年級
  3. 臺階。 例：石級、階級、拾級而上
  4. 量詞

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

How 級 was written 字形演變

  1. 級 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  2. 級 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  3. 級 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  4. 級 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 級