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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

請

qǐng
to ask; to ask for; to request
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 言
  • 15 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

The character 請 is a phono-semantic compound. It consists of the semantic component 言, meaning "to say; to speak; to talk," and the phonetic component 青. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the character means to pay an audience (謁也) and follows the sound of 青.

The phonetic component 青, which refers to blue-green, blue, or green, is itself composed of the components 生 and 井. The component 生, meaning "to live; to subsist; to exist," is formed from 一 and 屮.

In usage, 請 can mean to earnestly request or beg, to act as a host, to invite or employ, or to offer greetings. The character appears in bronze, chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts.

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

「請」字由意符「言」（意指說話、談論）與聲符「青」組成。其中聲符「青」本身也是一個形聲字，由「生」（意指生存、存在）與「井」（意指井）組成，而「生」字則由「屮」（意指植物新生的樣子）與「一」構成。此字的書寫形式最早可見於青銅器、楚簡、秦簡、篆書，隨後發展至楷書。

在意義方面，「請」包含了懇求、乞求，以及對人提出要求時使用的敬詞。此外，它也用於表示做東招待、延聘，或是用於問候。根據不同的語境，這個字可以解釋為請求、要求、允許、問候，或是詢問某人的近況。

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese言 “to say; to speak; to talk”
  • soundChinese青 “blue-green ("grue"); blue (of sky, stone etc.); green (of grass, plants, mountains etc.)”
    • soundChinese生 “to live; to subsist; to exist”
      • ideaChinese屮 “new birth of plant”
      • ideaChinese一 “one”
    • soundChinese井 “well (a hole sunk into the ground) (Classifier: 口; 眼)”

Words built on it: 請問

Wiktionary etymology text

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *sʰleŋʔ, *zleŋs, *zleŋ): semantic 言 (“say”) + phonetic 青 (OC *sʰleːŋ).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to ask; to ask for; to request
  2. kindly allow me to...
  3. to ask
  4. to greet; to ask how someone is
  5. to invite; to treat (to a meal, etc.)
  6. to hire

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

請：謁也。从言青聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 懇求、乞求。對人有所要求的敬詞。 例：敬請、請問、請教
  2. 做東招待。 例：請客
  3. 延聘。 例：請家教、請大夫
  4. 問候。 例：請安
  5. 求取。 例：請香案、請了一座神像

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

How 請 was written 字形演變

  1. 請 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 請 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 請 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 請 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 請 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
  • 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: 請