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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

電

diàn
lightning
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 雨
  • 13 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *l'iːns): semantic 雨 (“rain”) + phonetic 申 (OC *hlin); also ideogrammic (會意 /会意): 雨 + 申 (“lightning”).

Sino-Tibetan or area word; compare Proto-Mienic *liŋ (“lightning”), Chepang प्लीङ्हसा (pliŋh‑, “to flash; to shine brightly”) (Benedict, 1976; Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese雨 “rain (Classifier: 陣／阵; 場／场)”
  • soundChinese申 “original form of 電／电 (diàn, “lightning”)”

Related: Proto-Mienic *liŋ, Chepang प्लीङ्हसा

Words built on it: 電影, 電話, 電腦, 打電話

Meanings

character
  1. lightning
  2. electric power or energy; electricity
  3. electric; electrical
  4. battery (Classifier: 粒 c; 嚿 c)
  5. romantic attraction; chemistry
  6. to give an electric shock to

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

電：陰陽激燿也。从雨从申。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 一種物質固有的能量，為自然界基本現象之一。當正電負電接觸或失去均衡時，發生放電作用，產生光和熱。 例：閃電、靜電、停電
  2. 藉電力發動或使用的。 例：電梯、電燈、電視
  3. 電報、電話或電訊的簡稱。 例：回電、賀電、外電報導
  4. 男女相互的吸引力所產生的微妙情愫。 例：兩人一見鍾情，初次見面就來電了。

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

How 電 was written 字形演變

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