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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

陽

yáng
“male” principle; yang in yin-yang
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • radical 阜
  • 12 strokes

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  • derived
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *laŋ): semantic 阜 (“hill”) + phonetic 昜 (OC *laŋ, “sunshine”). 昜 is the original character for this word, 阜 was added later.

Either Sino-Tibetan or a Mainland Southeast Asian (MSEA) Wanderwort; compare Burmese လင်း (lang:, “bright”), Lepcha ᰣᰦᰜᰩᰵ (a-lóṅ, “reflective light”), Thai ปลั่ง (bplàng, “bright; shiny”) (Schuessler, 2007).

STEDT provisionally sets up Proto-Kuki-Chin *klaaŋ-I, klaan-II (“shine; light; bright”) and compares it to the following:

* 陽 (OC *laŋ, “sunshine”)

* 景 (OC *kraŋʔ, “bright; scenery”)

* 鏡 (OC *kraŋs, “mirror”)

* 亮 (OC *raŋs, “bright”)

* 章 (OC *kjaŋ, “brilliant, splendid; rule; emblem; display (v.)”)

Taken together, the Chinese, Lepcha, Kuki-Chin, and Burmese cognates imply a Proto-Sino-Tibetan *laŋ (“to be bright”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese阜 “mound”
  • soundChinese昜 “sunshine”

Related: Burmese လင်း, Lepcha ᰣᰦᰜᰩᰵ, Thai ปลั่ง, Proto-Kuki-Chin *klaaŋ-I, klaan-II

Meanings

character
  1. “male” principle; yang in yin-yang
  2. sun
  3. male genitals
  4. open; overt
  5. positive
  6. to be tested positive for COVID-19

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

陽：高、明也。从𨸏昜聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 太陽。與「陰」相對。古人用來泛指對立事物中的一方。如日、天、男為陽，月、地 、女為陰。 例：朝陽、豔陽、向陽坡
  2. 人間。 例：陽壽、陽間、陽宅
  3. 山的南面或水的北岸。如洛陽位於洛水的北岸。
  4. 帶正電的。 例：陽極、陽離子
  5. 凸的。 例：陽刻
  6. 表面上。 例：陽奉陰違

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

How 陽 was written 字形演變

  1. 陽 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 陽 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 陽 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 陽 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 陽 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 陽 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 陽