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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

考

kǎo
to examine; to check
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 老
  • 6 strokes

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Origin

Variant of 老 (OC *ruːʔ) – Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 耂 (“an old man with long hair, bent over”) + 丂 (“a walking cane”) originally drawn as 匕 – an old man, leaning on a cane. Compare top component to 孝 (OC *qʰruːs).

Structurally related to 老 (OC *ruːʔ); the most commonly cited example of 轉注 (“reciprocal meaning”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese耂 “old”
  • ideaChinese丂 “the appearance of air which is to be released”
    • componentChinese𠃑
    • componentChinese一 “one”

Words built on it: 思考, 考生, 考察, 考試

Meanings

character
  1. to examine; to check
  2. to study; to investigate
  3. to test; to assess
  4. to have a test; to have an exam
  5. long-lived; elderly
  6. deceased father; posthumous name for male relations

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

考：老也。从老省，丂聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 高壽、長壽。 例：壽考
  2. 稱死去的父親。 例：先考、如喪考妣
  3. 測驗。 例：考試、考驗、考照
  4. 考試的簡稱。 例：段考、模擬考、大學聯考
  5. 稽核、檢查。 例：考查、考核、考勤
  6. 探究、研究。 例：考古、考據、生平不可考

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

How 考 was written 字形演變

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