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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

運

yùn
to move; to revolve
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 7
  • radical 辵
  • 13 strokes

Etymology graph

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɢuns): semantic 辵 (“motion”) + phonetic 軍 (OC *kun).

STEDT relates it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *wal (“round; circular”), which is also connected to the following:

* 圓 (OC *ɢon, “round”)

* 圜 (OC *ɡʷraːn, “round”)

* 旋 (OC *sɢʷans, “to revolve; to return”)

* 環 (OC *ɡʷraːn, “ring”)

* 還 (OC *ɡʷraːn, “to return”)

* 院 (OC *ɦŋons, “courtyard”).

暈 (OC *ɢuns, “halo”) is the same word (Schuessler, 2007). It is possibly related to 雲 (OC *ɢun, “cloud”) (ibid.).

Additionally, Karlgren (1933) relates it to 圍 (OC *ɢʷɯl, “to surround”), and Wang (1982) to 回 (OC *ɡuːl, “to return”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*wal “round; circular”
  • meaningChinese辵 “to walk for a while and be still for a while”
    • ideaChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
    • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • soundChinese軍 “armed forces; army; troops”
    • ideaChinese車 “land vehicle; (specifically) car (Classifier: 輛／辆 m; 部 m c; 臺／台 m mn; 架 c; 頂／顶 mn; 張／张 mn-t; 乘 m)”
    • ideaChinese勹 “person bending over”

Words built on it: 運動

Meanings

character
  1. to move; to revolve
  2. to transport; to carry; to ship
  3. to use; to utilize
  4. fortune; luck; fate
  5. a surname

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

運：迻徙也。从辵軍聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 移動、轉動。 例：運行、運機、搬運
  2. 使用。 例：運思、運筆、運兵
  3. 氣數，固定的遭遇。 例：命運、好運、鴻運當頭
  4. 運動會的簡稱。 例：校運、區運、奧運

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

How 運 was written 字形演變

  1. 運 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 運 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: 運