元
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Translingual
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Han character
元 (radical 10, 儿+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一一山 (MMU), four-corner 10211, composition ⿱一兀 or ⿱二儿)
Derived characters
References
- KangXi: page 123, character 6
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1340
- Dae Jaweon: page 258, character 3
- Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 264, character 6
- Unihan data for U+5143
Chinese
| simp. and trad. |
元 | |
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Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 元 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
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| Characters in the same phonetic series (元) (Zhengzhang, 2003) | |
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| Old Chinese | |
| 冠 | *kŋoːn, *kŋoːns |
| 莞 | *kŋoːn, *ɦŋoːn, *ɦŋroːnʔ |
| 脘 | *ŋkoːnʔ |
| 筦 | *ŋkoːnʔ |
| 梡 | *ŋ̊ʰoːnʔ, *ɦŋoːn, *ɦŋoːnʔ |
| 岏 | *ŋoːn |
| 刓 | *ŋoːn |
| 园 | *ŋoːn |
| 忨 | *ŋoːn, *ŋoːns |
| 蚖 | *ŋoːn, *ŋon |
| 黿 | *ŋoːn, *ŋon |
| 抏 | *ŋoːn |
| 玩 | *ŋoːns |
| 貦 | *ŋoːns |
| 翫 | *ŋoːns |
| 妧 | *ŋoːns |
| 完 | *ɦŋoːn |
| 捖 | *ɦŋoːn |
| 垸 | *ɦŋoːn, *ɦŋoːns |
| 綄 | *ɦŋoːn, *ɦŋoːnʔ |
| 院 | *ɦŋoːn, *ɦŋons |
| 皖 | *ɦŋoːnʔ, *ɦŋroːnʔ |
| 晥 | *ɦŋoːnʔ |
| 浣 | *ɦŋoːnʔ |
| 頑 | *ŋroːn, *ŋroːn |
| 睆 | *ɦŋroːnʔ |
| 鯇 | *ɦŋroːnʔ |
| 元 | *ŋon |
| 沅 | *ŋon |
| 芫 | *ŋon |
| 杬 | *ŋon |
| 邧 | *ŋon, *ŋonʔ |
| 阮 | *ŋon, *ŋonʔ |
| 俒 | *ɦŋuːn, *ɦŋuːns |
Pictogram (象形) – a figure with two lines 二 for a head (one connected to body, one above it), emphasizing the head.
Etymology 1
Possibly related to 原 (OC *ŋʷan) "source, origin, basic, primary" and 黿 (OC *ŋoːn, *ŋon) "large turtle" (whose back-formation might be 鰲 (OC *ŋaːw) "mythological turtle" with final -n discarded due to folk etymology) (Schuessler, 2007), and also 高 (OC *kaːw).
Compare Proto-Tibeto-Burman *m~s-gaw (“head”). If so, cognate with 后 (OC *ɡoːʔ, *ɡoːs) "ruler, lord (obsolete), queen"; Tibetan མགོ (mgo, “head, summit, beginning”) (⇒ མགོ.དཔོན (mgo.dpon, “headman”)), Garo sko (“skull”), Northern Tujia kho⁵⁵ pa⁵⁵ (“head”) (STEDT, Schuessler, 2007).
Pronunciation
Definitions
元
Synonyms
See also
Compounds
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Etymology 2
| For pronunciation and definitions of 元 – see 圓 (“circle; circular; round; etc.”). (This character, 元, is the second-round simplified form of 圓.) |
Notes:
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Japanese
Readings
Compounds
- 元気 (genki)
- 元凶 (genkyō)
- 元金 (gankin)
- 元号 (gengō)
- 元日 (ganjitsu)
- 元首 (genshu), 元首 (motokubi)
- 元帥 (gensui)
- 元祖 (ganso)
- 元素 (genso)
- 元旦 (gantan)
- 元朝 (ganchō), 元朝 (genchō)
- 元服 (genpuku)
- 元本 (ganpon)
- 元来 (ganrai)
- 元悪 (gen'aku)
- 元価 (genka)
- 元兇 (genkyō)
- 元勲 (genkun)
- 元軍 (gengun)
- 元元 (motomoto), 元々 (motomoto)
- 元高 (motodaka)
- 元三 (Motomi)
- 元始 (genshi)
- 元手 (motode)
- 元鞘 (motosaya)
- 元職 (genshoku)
- 元栓 (motosen)
- 元値 (motone)
- 元帳 (motochō)
- 元締 (motoji)
- 元入金 (motonyūkin)
- 元年 (gannen)
- 元標 (genpyō)
- 元方 (motokata)
- 元利 (ganri)
- 元老 (genrō)
- 元禄 (genroku)
- 元寇 (genkō)
- お手元 (otemoto), 御手元 (otemoto)
Noun
Derived terms
- もとに
- 元は
- 元より
- 元売り
- 元結い
- 元通り
Etymology 2
From 始め (hajime, “beginning”).