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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

點

diǎn
dot; spot; speck
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 黑
  • 17 strokes
  • ⿱占一

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

The character 點 (diǎn) is a phono-semantic compound. It consists of the semantic component 黑 (black) and the phonetic component 占 (to divine; to foretell). According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the character is defined as "small black" (小黑也) and is composed of 黑 providing the meaning and 占 providing the sound. The phonetic component 占 is itself composed of 口 (mouth) and 卜 (to divine).

In terms of its historical forms, the character appears in seal and regular scripts. Beyond its primary meanings of dot, speck, or point, it can refer to an aspect, a place, or o'clock. It is also used to denote marks for punctuation, a brief contact, or a specific standard. In some contexts, it serves as a shorthand for non-main meal foods. The character is reconstructed as *teːmʔ in Old Chinese, and it is possibly related to 怎 due to a similar syllable structure.

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

「點」在字形構成上屬於形聲字，其意符為「黑」，音符為「占」。根據《說文解字》的說法，這個字的意思是「小黑也」。在音符「占」的組成中，包含了「卜」與「口」兩個部件。

在意義的演變與運用上，「點」可以指代點、斑點、微小的部分、某個地方、某個面向，或是時間上的點（如時刻）。在標點符號的語境中，它指稱句讀的標誌；在飲食方面，則常用於簡稱非正餐的食品。此外，它也能表示某個特定的標準或短暫的接觸。在語言學研究中，有學者認為其可能與中古漢語的底物有關，亦有研究指出其可能與「怎」字因音節結構相似而產生關聯。

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

Lineage

  • meaningChinese黑 “black”
  • soundChinese占 “to divine; to foretell”
    • ideaChinese卜 “to divine”
    • ideaChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”

Words built on it: 有點, 一點

Wiktionary etymology text
Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *teːmʔ): semantic 黑 (“black”) + phonetic 占 (OC *ʔljem, *tjems).

Etymology 2

Fusion of 底物 (MC tejX mjut), literally “what thing” (Guo, 2003).

Often related to 怎 (zam2) due to similar syllable structure.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. dot; spot; speck
  2. place; point; spot
  3. point; aspect
  4. o'clock
  5. time
  6. point

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

點：小黑也。从黑占聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 句讀的標誌。 例：逗點、標點
  2. 非正餐食品的簡稱。 例：西點、茶點
  3. 一定的地方或標準。 例：起點、沸點
  4. 短暫的接觸。 例：蜻蜓點水、畫龍點睛
  5. 體積或數量微小的。 例：斑點、一點小事
  6. 事物具備的特定意義部分。 例：特點、優點、重點

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

How 點 was written 字形演變

  1. 點 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 點 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
  • 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: 點