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

處

/ʈ͡ʂʰu²¹⁴/
to reside; to live; to dwell
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 虍
  • 11 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 *kʰljaʔ, *kʰljas): phonetic 虍 (OC *qʰaː) + semantic 夂 + semantic 几 (“table”).

In Starostin, this is reconstructed as *thaʔ in Old Chinese and subsumed under Proto-Sino-Tibetan *dhăH (/*thăH) (“to put; to place”), whence also 署 (OC *djas, “to place; to position”), Tibetan གདའ (gda', “to be; to be there”), གདན (gdan, “seat; residence”) and Burmese ထား (hta:, “to put; to place”).

With the original *–l– initial, compare Proto-Tamangic *ᴮglaː/ᴬglaː (“place”), Mizo tla, tlat (“to be; to exist; to live; to remain”) (Schuessler, 2007).

居 (OC *kɯ, *kas) may be related (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • soundChinese虍 “pattern of tiger fur”
  • meaningChinese夂 “to approach from behind”
  • meaningChinese几 “stool; chair”

Related: Tibetan གདའ, Burmese ထား, Mizo tla

Meanings

character
  1. to reside; to live; to dwell
  2. to be situated in; to be in
  3. staying at home; not assuming a government position, or not married
  4. virginity; chastity
  5. to manage; to deal with
  6. to punish; to discipline

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 地方、場所、所在。 例：住處、各處、益處
  2. 機關團體的組織單位。 例：訓導處、人事處、新聞處
  3. 量詞。計算部位、地點的單位。 例：一處勝景、兩處流沙、三處瘀傷

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

How 處 was written 字形演變

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