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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

讓

ràng
to allow; to let; to permit
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 言
  • 24 strokes
  • 誏
  • 𬣼

Etymology graph

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

The character is composed of the radical 言 (to speak) and the component 襄 (to aid; to help; to assist). According to the Shuowen Jiezi, it is formed from 言 and 襄 as a phonetic component. Within 襄, the component 衣 (garment; clothes) serves as the semantic element, while 𤕦 serves as the phonetic element.

Etymologically, it is considered the exopassive of 攘 (OC *njaŋ, “to remove”), moving from the sense of "to remove" to "to remove oneself" and finally to "to yield" or "to concede." It is likely derived from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *naŋ (“to drive; grant, allow”). This root is cognate with 攘 (to remove; to steal), 禳 (to expel; to sacrifice to expel disasters), Tibetan གནང (to give; to grant), Burmese နှင်း (to confer; to grant), and Burmese နှင် (to drive away; to expel). It is also recorded as a borrowing from the French name Jean.

Oldest attested scripts for this character include chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts.

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

從演變路徑來看，「讓」被視為「攘」（意為移除）的外被動形式。其演變邏輯為從「移除」轉向「移除自身」，進而產生「讓步」或「退讓」的含義。在語言學聯繫上，它與「攘」（移除、偷竊）以及「禳」（驅逐、透過祭祀驅逐災禍）同源。此外，它也與藏語的 གནང（給予、授予）、緬甸語的 နှင်း（授予、賜予）以及 နှင်（驅逐）具有同源關係，這些詞彙可能皆源自原始漢藏語的 *naŋ。

此字最早見於楚、秦、篆書與正楷。在語言借用方面，該字也與法語名稱 Jean 有關。

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

Lineage

  • partChinese訁 “Left radical form of Kangxi radical #149 言 (yán, to speak).”
  • partChinese襄 “to aid; to help; to assist”
    • soundChinese𤕦
    • meaningChinese衣 “garment; clothes; clothing (Classifier: 件)”

Related: Tibetan གནང, Burmese နှင်း, Burmese နှင်

Wiktionary etymology text
Etymology 1

The exopassive of 攘 (OC *njaŋ, *njaŋʔ, *njaŋs, “to remove”) ("to remove" > ("to remove oneself") > "to yield; to concede").

Cognate with 攘 (OC *njaŋ, *njaŋʔ, *njaŋs, “to remove; to steal”), 禳 (OC *njaŋ, “to expel; to sacrifice to expel disasters”), Tibetan གནང (gnang, “to give; to grant”), Burmese နှင်း (hnang:, “to confer; to grant”), Burmese နှင် (hnang, “to drive away; to expel”) (Schuessler, 2007); all from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *naŋ (“to drive; grant, allow”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French Jean.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. to allow; to let; to permit
  2. to ask (someone to do something); to get (someone to do something); to have (someone do something)
  3. to yield; to concede
  4. to yield; to give way
  5. by (passive signifier)
  6. to criticise; to reproach

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

讓：相責讓。从言襄聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 謙退。 例：謙讓、退讓、禮讓
  2. 把自己所有轉給別人持有。 例：出讓、廉讓、讓位
  3. 任、隨、允許。 例：別管他，讓他去吧！
  4. 使、令。 例：我讓他到街上買東西去。
  5. 被。 例：這杯茶讓他打翻了！
  6. 躲避。 例：讓開！車子來了。

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

How 讓 was written 字形演變

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