何
Meanings
CC-CEDICT
- 1.surname He
- 1.what
- 2.how
- 3.why
- 4.which
- 5.carry
CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA
Wiktionary
- 1.what; which
- 2.where; what place
- 3.why; how
- 4.so; such; what; how
- 5.a surname
- 6.Original form of 荷 (“to carry”).
- 7.Original form of 呵 (“to scold; to criticise; to denounce”).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Etymology
In the oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形): a man carrying something on their shoulder – the original form of 荷 (OC *ɡaːlʔ, “to carry”). The object being carried may have been 戈 (gē), in which case the character is also an ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 戈 (OC *koːl, “dagger-axe”). In the bronze inscriptions, some forms of the character were phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ), from which the modern form derives. Cognate with the following interrogative pronouns: * 胡 (OC *ɡaː, “what; why”) * 奚 (OC *ɡeː, “what; why; where”) * 曷 (OC *ɡaːd, “why”) * 盍 (OC *ɡaːb, “why not”): from the fusion of 何不 (OC *ɡaːl pɯ, “why not”) In Sino-Tibetan, cognate with Tibetan ག་ན (ga na, “where; how”), Tibetan ག་རུ (ga ru, “to where”) (Schuessler, 2007). STEDT, on the other hand, compares 何 (OC *ɡaːlʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka (“which; like; deictic; interrogative”), to which 幾 (OC *kɯlʔ, “how many”) and 豈 (OC *ŋ̊ʰɯlʔ, “how”) are also compared.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Stroke order
Components
Components from cjk-decomp · MIT
Example sentences
他們何時抵達?
When will they arrive?
你何時要戒煙?
When are you going to quit smoking?
您何時需要它？
When do you need it by?
你何時來日本的?
When did you come to Japan?
你何時會回學校?
When will you come back to school?
雨季何時會結束？
When will the rainy season be over?
Sentences from Tatoeba · CC-BY 2.0 FR
More examples & usage (AI)
Synonyms
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Derived terms
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA