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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

言

yán
to say; to speak; to talk
  • Ideogram
  • HSK 2
  • radical 言
  • 7 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

Etymology 1

Ideogram (指事) – From 口 and ▽(possibly original form of 弋, marking location). Later: from 口 and 辛 or 䇂 (possibly mixed with 舌).

Possibly related to the semantic family of 舌 ("protruding/emerging", opposite to 音 "converging/covering") or 語 ("facing/front"). May also relate to 獻, 諺, and 唁 ("formal presentation/declaration").

See also 音.

According to Schuessler (2007: 74) this word is derived from 語 (OC *ŋaʔ, “to speak”) + -n nominal suffix.

Etymology 2

Cognate with 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ), 吾 (OC *ŋraː, *ŋaː).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese二 “two”
  • partChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”

Words built on it: 這, 說, 誰, 請, 讀, 該, 講, 課, 試, 信, 話, 談

Meanings

character
  1. to say; to speak; to talk
  2. to discuss; to comment
  3. to state; to describe; to explain
  4. to write down; to record
  5. to ask; to inquire
  6. to inform; to tell; to let know

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

言：直言曰言，論難曰語。从口䇂聲。凡言之屬皆从言。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 說、講。 例：難言之隱、大言不慚、苦不堪言
  2. 所說的話。 例：有言在先、忠言逆耳、人言可畏
  3. 漢語的一個字稱一言。 例：七言詩、五言絕句

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

How 言 was written 字形演變

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

  • 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 言