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

要

yāo
to demand; to ask; to request
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 襾
  • 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

The character 要 is a pictogram. Its original meaning was "waist" (now seen in 腰). The form depicts a person (大) drawn as a woman (女) with two hands pointing toward the midsection. Above this, there was a large eye (目) that was stylized into a horn (角). As the hands gradually shifted upwards, a nearly original version of the character became 𡢗, and the upper portion was eventually stylized as 覀.

The Shuowen Jiezi glosses the character as "the middle of the body" (身中也) and states it depicts the shape of a person's waist (象人要自𦥑之形). It is noted as following 𦥑, with 交 acting as a phonetic component. While the character contains the graphic component 西, it is unrelated to 栗 but possibly related to 票.

In modern usage, the character can mean to demand, request, force, or intercept. It also carries meanings related to being important, key, or something that should or will happen. The oldest attested scripts include qin, seal, and regular scripts.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • partChinese西 “west; western; occidental”
  • partChinese女 “woman; (only of humans in Standard Chinese) female”

Words built on it: 重要, 要求, 主要, 只要, 需要, 要是, 不要, 必要, 就要, 要好, 腰, 快要

Wiktionary etymology text

Pictogram (象形): a man 大 then drawn as a woman (女) with two hands pointing to his/her midsection. On top of the character there was huge eye 目, then stylized as a horn 角. The hands gradually shifted upwards; hence, a nearly original version of the character is 𡢗. All the upper part was eventually stylized as 覀. Unrelated to 栗 but partly related to 票.

Original meaning was “waist” (now 腰 (OC *qew)).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to demand; to ask; to request
  2. to force; to coerce
  3. to promise
  4. to block; to intercept
  5. contract of alliance
  6. a surname

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

要：身中也。象人要自𦥑之形。从𦥑，交省聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 重大的、重要的。 例：要點、要道、要職
  2. 關鍵、重點。 例：提要、綱要、摘要
  3. 應該、必須。 例：當學生就要努力學習。
  4. 將要、即將。 例：我要去上班了，有話快說。
  5. 要是、如果。 例：他要來了，就把東西交給他。
  6. 索取、希望得到。 例：要帳、要債、要錢

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

How 要 was written 字形演變

  1. 要 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  2. 要 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 要 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

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • 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: 要