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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

錢

qián
money; cash
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 金
  • 16 strokes

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Origin

The character 錢 is a phono-semantic compound. It combines the semantic component 金, meaning metal, gold, or copper, with the phonetic component 戔. The component 戔 is the original form of 殘 (cán, “to harm; to injure”). According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the character refers to a 銚 (diào) and is an ancient vessel or tool. The text cites the "Book of Songs" (Shijing) with the phrase "庤乃錢鎛."

In usage, the term serves as a general name for currency or wealth, as well as for expenses and funds. It also functions as a classifier or a unit of weight. In the metric system, one qián equals one hundredth of a kilogram, while in the traditional system, one tái qián equals one tenth of a tái liǎng. The character appears in various scripts, including chu, qin, seal, and regular. It is a cognate of the Chinese word 鏟 (chǎn), meaning spade, shovel, or scoop.

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

「錢」是一個形聲字，由具有意義的「金」與作為音符的「戔」組成。在音韻上，其上古音重建為 *ʔslenʔ 或 *zlen，而音符「戔」的上古音重建為 *zlaːn。此外，「錢」與「鏟」在語言學上互為同源詞。

在字形紀錄方面，最早的文字形式包含楚系文字與秦系文字，隨後出現篆書與楷書。根據《國語辭典》，「錢」除了指稱貨幣與財物，亦可用於計算重量，例如公制的一錢等於百分之一公斤，而一臺錢則等於十分之一臺兩。

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese金 “copper (Cu)”
  • soundChinese戔 “original form of 殘／残 (cán, “to harm; to injure”)”

Related: Chinese 鏟

Wiktionary etymology text

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ʔslenʔ, *zlen): semantic 金 (“metal; gold; money”) + phonetic 戔 (OC *zlaːn).

Cognate with Chinese 鏟 /铲 (chǎn)

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. money; cash
  2. currency; coins
  3. cost; fund; expense
  4. coin-shaped object
  5. mace (unit of weight equivalent to one tenth of a 兩／两 (liǎng, “tael”) and equal to ten 分 (fēn, “candareen”))
  6. a surname, Qian, listed second in the Baijiaxing & the dynasty of the kings of Wuyue

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

錢：銚也。古田器。从金戔聲。《詩》曰：“庤乃錢鎛。”

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 貨幣的通稱。 例：錢幣、銅錢、五銖錢
  2. 泛指財物。 例：錢財、有錢有勢
  3. 費用、款項。 例：車錢、飯錢、會錢
  4. 量詞。計算重量的單位。公制一錢等於百分之一公斤；一臺錢等於十分之一臺兩。
  5. 姓。

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

How 錢 was written 字形演變

  1. 錢 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  2. 錢 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  3. 錢 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  4. 錢 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 錢