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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

越

yuè
to pass over; to cross; to cross over
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 走
  • 12 strokes

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɢʷaːd, *ɢʷad): semantic 走 (“to walk or run”) + phonetic 戉 (OC *ɢʷad) — to go over; to cross.

; “to go over; to surpass; to overstep; to turn”

: Related to 𨒋 (“to go over”), 䟠 (“to go beyond; to transgress”) (Wang, 1982) and perhaps 于 (OC *ɢʷa, “to go”) (Schuessler, 2007).

; “modal particle”

; “Yue; Viet; State of Yue”

: This is a general name for numerous indigenous tribes in ancient southern China, which are collectively called Baiyue. The ancient State of Yue during the Zhou dynasty of China was initially written as 戉 (OC *ɢʷad, “large battle-axe”) — alternatively written as 𫑛 — and it is commonly believed the name Yue originates from this instrument, which was widely found in neolithic cultures of southeastern China and served as a symbol of authority and royalty.

: See 戉 (OC *ɢʷad) for more on the etymology.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese走 “to go; to walk; to go on foot”
  • soundChinese戉 “original form of 鉞／钺 (yuè, “a type of battle axe used in ancient China”)”

Words built on it: 超越

Meanings

character
  1. to pass over; to cross; to cross over
  2. to go over; to climb over; to jump over
  3. to pass; to go through
  4. to go outside of; to exceed; to surpass; to overstep; to transgress
  5. to propagate; to spread; to publicise
  6. to disperse; to scatter; to fade away

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

越：度也。从走戉聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 跨過。 例：翻山越嶺、越牆而走
  2. 不按次序，超出某種範圍或常規。 例：越位、越權、越俎代庖
  3. 揚起、高亢。 例：聲音清越
  4. 更加。表示程度加深、加重。常連用，以「越……越……」方式表達。 例：他越大越懂事了。
  5. 古國名。周朝諸侯國。姒姓。建都於會稽。曾占有今江蘇、浙江及山東的一部分，後滅於楚。

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

How 越 was written 字形演變

  1. 越 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 越 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 越 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
  • 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: 越