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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

門

mén
gate; door; entrance; opening; portal (Classifier: 扇 m mn; 道 m c; 度 c; 條／条 c; 隻／只 c; 片 mn)
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 門
  • 8 strokes
  • 閅
  • 𮤫
  • 门

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

The character 門 is a pictogram of a gate. According to the Shuowen Jiezi, it is related to the concept of hearing and is composed of two 戶. Its earliest forms appear in oracle, bronze, chu, seal, clerical, and regular scripts.

It is inherited from the Proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction *mur, meaning mouth, lip, face, or to chew. This root is cognate with the Tibetan མུར་བ (to masticate), མུར་འགྲམ (jawbone; cheek), and the Mizo hmûi (lips; upper lip), as well as the Chinese 吻 (lips; corner of the lips).

In terms of graphic components, the character contains 尸 (a living person representing the dead during a rite), 一 (one), 匸 (to cover; to conceal), and 亅 (a backward hook).

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

「門」在字義上指建築物、車輛或船隻的出入口，或是設置於出入口用以開關的裝置。它也可以指形狀或作用像門的物體，並延伸用於指稱家族、門第、學派或宗派。其最早的文字紀錄見於甲骨文、金文、楚文字、小篆、隸書與楷書。

在語源上，此字被認為繼承自原始漢藏語（Proto-Sino-Tibetan）的 *mur，其原意可能與「嘴；唇；在口中持有；咀嚼；臉；鰓」有關。此外，它與藏語的 མུར་བ（咀嚼）、མུར་འགྲམ（頜骨；臉頰），以及米佐語（Mizo）的 hmûi（嘴唇；上唇）互為同源詞，也與「吻」（中古音 *mɯnʔ，意為「嘴唇；嘴角」）有關。

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

Lineage

  • partChinese尸 “a living person who represents the dead person during a rite”
  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*mur “mouth; lip; to hold in mouth; to chew; face; gills”
  • partChinese一 “one”
  • partChinese匸 “to cover; to conceal”
  • partChinese亅 “a backward hook”

Related: Tibetan མུར་བ, Tibetan མུར་འགྲམ, Mizo hmûi

Words built on it: 問, 開, 關, 們, 聞, 閉, 閃

Wiktionary etymology text

Pictogram (象形): a gate. Compare 戶 (OC *ɡʷaːʔ, “(one) door”), which is half of this character (𠁣).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *mur (“mouth; lip; to hold in mouth; to chew; face; gills”) (STEDT). Cognate with Tibetan མུར་བ (mur ba, “to masticate”), Tibetan མུར་འགྲམ (mur 'gram, “jawbone; cheek”), Mizo hmûi (“lips; upper lip”) and 吻 (OC *mɯnʔ, “lips; corner of the lips”).

; “-gate”

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. gate; door; entrance; opening; portal (Classifier: 扇 m mn; 道 m c; 度 c; 條／条 c; 隻／只 c; 片 mn)
  2. valve; switch
  3. way of doing something; knack
  4. family
  5. school; sect; school of thought; tradition
  6. class; category

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

門：聞也。从二戶。象形。凡門之屬皆从門。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 建築物或車、船等可以開關的出入口，也指設於出入口能關閉的裝置。 例：房門、車門、鐵捲門　◎
  2. 形狀或作用像門的物體。 例：閘門、水門、肛門
  3. 家族、門第。 例：寒門、豪門
  4. 學派、宗派。 例：佛門、獨門絕活
  5. 關鍵、要點、方法。 例：竅門、不二法門
  6. 類別。 例：分門別類、五花八門

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

How 門 was written 字形演變

  1. 門 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 門 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 門 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 門 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 門 in Clerical script
    Clerical
    隸書
    Han
  6. 門 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
  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • 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: 門