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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

順其自然

/ʂu̯ən⁵¹ t͡ɕʰi³⁵ t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ ɻän³⁵/
to let it be; to let nature take its course; que sera sera
  • 顺其自然
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The phrase captures the essence of following the natural flow of water and the inherent life of fire.
The phrase captures the essence of following the natural flow of water and the inherent life of fire.

Origin

The phrase is formed by four characters. 順 means to follow or to go along with; 其 means his, her, its, or their; 自 means self, oneself, or one's own; and 然 is the original form of 燃 (rán, “to burn”).

Within the character 順, 頁 (sheet of paper) serves as the semantic component, while 川 (river, stream, or brook) is the phonetic component. The component 頁 is composed of 首 (head) and 卩 (kneeling person).

The character 然 is composed of the semantic component 火 (fire, flame) and the phonetic component 肰 (dog meat). The component 肰 contains the semantic elements 肉 (meat, flesh) and 犬 (dog).

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

這個詞由四個漢字組成：順、其、自、然。其中「順」字包含表示意義的「頁」（由「首」與「卩」組成）以及表示聲音的「川」。「其」的意思是「他的、她的、它的或他們的」。「自」的意思是「自己、自身或自己的」。

「然」字是「燃」的原型，由表示意義的「火」與表示聲音的「肰」組成。在「肰」字中，包含了表示意義的「肉」與「犬」。

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

Lineage

  • characterChinese順 “to follow; to go along with”
    • soundChinese川 “river; stream; brook”
    • meaningChinese頁 “sheet (of paper)”
      • componentChinese首 “head”
      • componentChinese卩 “kneeling person”
  • characterChinese其 “his; her; its; their”
  • characterChinese自 “self, oneself; one's own”
  • characterChinese然 “original form of 燃 (rán, “to burn”)”
    • soundChinese肰 “dog meat”
      • meaningChinese肉 “meat; flesh”
      • meaningChinese犬 “dog”
    • meaningChinese火 “fire; flame (Classifier: 把 m; 團／团 m)”
Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Meanings

phrase
  1. to let it be; to let nature take its course; que sera sera

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 順著事物的本質自然發展。 例：凡事順其自然即可，別太勉強。

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

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0