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

背

bèi
back
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 肉
  • 9 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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs): phonetic 北 (OC *pɯːɡ) + semantic 月 (“meat”). Originally written as 北, semantic 肉 was added to be distinguished from the derived meaning of 北 (“north”).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bə(q) (“to carry (on back), shoulder”). According to Schuessler (2007), it is the exopassive of 北 (OC *pɯːɡ, “to turn one's back”) — what is turned back.

Two pronunciations were distinguished in Middle Chinese: puʌiᴴ (“back”), buʌiᴴ (“to turn one's back to; to betray”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*bə(q) “to carry (on back), shoulder”
  • soundChinese北 “north; northern”
  • meaningChinese肉 “meat; flesh”

Words built on it: 背景, 背包

Meanings

character
  1. back
  2. back; backside; reverse side
  3. to leave; to abandon
  4. to back onto
  5. to betray
  6. to do something behind one's back; to hide something from someone

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

背：𦟝也。从肉北聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 胸部的後面，從後腰以上到頸下的部位。
  2. 物體的反面或後面。 例：山背、刀背
  3. 用背部對著。 例：背著太陽、背山面海、背水一戰
  4. 離開、拋棄。 例：離鄉背井
  5. 違反。 例：背約、背叛、背信忘義
  6. 躲避、瞞著。 例：你是不是背著我幹了什麼壞事？

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

How 背 was written 字形演變

  1. 背 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 背 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: 背