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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

造

zào
to make; to build; to manufacture
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 辵
  • 11 strokes

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Origin

Etymology 1

Unclear. Generally considered to be unrelated to 告 in its original form.

The bronze script forms are identified by 漢語多功能字庫 as being Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *skʰuːɡs, *sɡuːʔ): semantic 辵 (“to walk”) + phonetic 屮 (sʰuːʔ) + semantic 口 – “to go, to arrive”.

Shuowen incorrectly identifies it as a Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *skʰuːɡs, *sɡuːʔ): semantic 辶 (“to walk”) + phonetic 告 (OC *kuːɡs, *kuːɡ).

Etymology 3

A colloquial pronunciation of 作 (MC tsak) (Zhang, 2020).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese辵 “to walk for a while and be still for a while”
    • ideaChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
    • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • soundChinese屮 “new birth of plant”
  • soundChinese告 “to report to”
    • ideaChinese壴 “drum”
  • meaningChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”

Words built on it: 造成, 改造, 建造, 造型

Meanings

character
  1. to make; to build; to manufacture
  2. to make up; to fabricate
  3. to start
  4. to establish
  5. harvest of crops
  6. Classifier for harvests.

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

造：就也。从辵告聲。譚長說：造，上士也。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 製作。 例：製造、創造、造紙
  2. 建設、建築。 例：造屋、造橋
  3. 至、前往。 例：造訪
  4. 培養。 例：造就、可造之才
  5. 對立的兩方。如訴訟時原告與被告稱為「兩造」。

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

How 造 was written 字形演變

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