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

路

lù
road; path; street (Classifier: 條／条 m c mn)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 足
  • 13 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 路 is a phono-semantic compound. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, it means "road" and is composed of the semantic component 足 (foot) and the phonetic component 各 (each; every). The phonetic component 各 contains the components 夂 (to approach from behind) and 口 (mouth).

Regarding its origins, the character is reconstructed as *ɡ·raːɡs. It may be related to 格 (OC *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ, "to come, to arrive (obsolete)") or possibly cognate with 略 (OC *ɡ·raɡ). Another possibility is that it stems from Proto-Austroasiatic *kraʔ ("road, way"), which relates to Proto-Vietic *kraːʔ, Chong khraa, Kuy (k)na, and Proto-Waic *kraʔ.

In terms of usage, the character is also an orthographic borrowing from the Japanese 路 (ji), as seen in the term 三十路 (misoji). Its earliest attested forms appear in bronze, chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts.

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

「路」在字形構成上屬於形聲字。根據《說文解字》，此字從「足」部，從「各」聲。在音義構成上，其意符為「足」，音符則為「各」。「各」字本身包含「夂」（意為從後方接近）與「口」兩個組成部分。

關於其起源，學界有不同的假說。一種觀點認為它可能與「格」（上古音 *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ，意為「來到」，現已廢止）有關，或是與「略」（上古音 *ɡ·raɡ）同源。另一種可能則是源自原始南亞語（Proto-Austroasiatic）的 *kraʔ（意為「道路、路徑」），此音可能與原始越南語（Proto-Vietic）的 *kraːʔ、Chong語、Kuy語以及原始瓦語（Proto-Waic）的 *kraʔ 有關。此外，此字在字形上也被認為是從日語的「路」（ji）進行了正字法借用，例如日語詞彙「三十路」（misoji）。

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese足 “foot”
  • soundChinese各 “each; every (determiner)”
    • ideaChinese夂 “to approach from behind”
    • ideaChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”
  • borrowedJapanese路

Words built on it: 走路, 公路, 路口, 道路, 路上, 高速公路

Wiktionary etymology text
Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡ·raːɡs): semantic 足 + phonetic 各 (OC *klaːɡ).

Either related to 格 (OC *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ, “to come, to arrive (obsolete)”) (Baxter, 1992) or from Proto-Austroasiatic *kraʔ (“road, way”) (Schuessler, 2007), whence Proto-Vietic *kraːʔ (→ fossilized Vietnamese sá & Muong khá (“road, way”)), Chong [script needed] (khraa), Kuy [script needed] ((k)na), and Proto-Waic *kraʔ. Possibly cognate with 略 (OC *ɡ·raɡ).

Etymology 2

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 路(じ) (ji). See Japanese 三十路(みそじ) (misoji).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. road; path; street (Classifier: 條／条 m c mn)
  2. pattern; arrangement; sequence
  3. way; method
  4. journey
  5. route
  6. kind; type

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

路：道也。从足从各。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 供人馬舟車等行走的道路。 例：馬路、鐵路、高速公路
  2. 運輸的線道。 例：陸路、水路
  3. 路線。 例：五路公車、兵分三路
  4. 方法、途徑。 例：生路、活路、門路
  5. 條理、紋理。 例：思路、紋路
  6. 種類。 例：各路人馬

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

How 路 was written 字形演變

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