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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

關

guān
door bolt
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 門
  • 19 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

The bronze inscription was in the form of 門 (“door”) + 卝 (“locked door; two wooden sticks to lock a door”). 卝 might also serve as a phonetic component. The whole character represents a door locked with two wooden sticks.

Then, the character slightly evolved into Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *kroːn): semantic 門 (“door”) + phonetic 𢇅, in which two couples of rings similar to 幺幺 are visible on top of the two wooden sticks.

Compare Proto-Southwestern Tai *klɔːnᴬ² (“latch of door; rafter”), whence Thai กลอน (glɔɔn) (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese門 “gate; door; entrance; opening; portal (Classifier: 扇 m mn; 道 m c; 度 c; 條／条 c; 隻／只 c; 片 mn)”
  • soundChinese𢇅

Related: Proto-Southwestern Tai *klɔːnᴬ², Thai กลอน

Words built on it: 相關

Meanings

character
  1. door bolt
  2. to close; to shut
  3. to close down (a business)
  4. to lock up; to detain
  5. to turn off; to switch off
  6. to go through; to pass

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

關：以木橫持門戶也。从門𢇅聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 掩閉、閉合。與「開」相對。 例：關閉、關門　◎
  2. 拘禁。 例：動物被關在籠中，供遊客參觀。
  3. 使作用或功能停止。 例：關燈、關機
  4. 牽涉、連繫。 例：有關、相關、事關緊要
  5. 國境或邊險要塞的出入口。 例：海關、邊關
  6. 事物具扭轉作用的部分。 例：機關

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

How 關 was written 字形演變

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