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

選

xuǎn
to choose; to pick; to select
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 辵
  • 16 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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *sqʰonʔ, *sqʰons): semantic 止 + phonetic 巽 (OC *sqʰuːns).

Xu Shen argues that the original meaning was to respectfully reject and send someone back; to choose also implies rejecting others, hence the meaning.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese止 “foot”
  • soundChinese巽 “☴ the fifth of the eight trigrams”
    • ideaChinese𠨎 “people kneeling”
    • ideaChinese丌 “base for supporting the object above”

Words built on it: 選擇

Meanings

character
  1. to choose; to pick; to select
  2. to elect
  3. to run for election
  4. election

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

選：遣也。从辵、巽，巽遣之；巽亦聲。一曰選，擇也。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 挑揀、擇取。 例：推選、挑選
  2. 經挑揀編輯成冊的作品。 例：詩選、文選、小說選
  3. 被挑中的人或物。 例：人選、一時之選
  4. 特指選舉活動。 例：普選、年底大選

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

How 選 was written 字形演變

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