川
Meanings
CC-CEDICT
- 1.(bound form) river
- 2.creek
- 3.plain
- 4.an area of level country
- 1.short name for Sichuan 四川[Sì chuān]
CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA
Wiktionary
- 1.river; stream; brook
- 2.plain
- 3.to boil briefly
- 4.a surname
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Etymology
Pictogram (象形) of flowing water – compare 水 (OC *qʰʷljilʔ), 巛, and 𡿧. The Middle and Old Chinese reconstruction of this word is phonologically problematic (STEDT): * Karlgren (1957) notes that the Middle Chinese form is irregular based on evidence from Shijing rimes. * Based on velar contacts in the same phonetic series, e.g. 巛, 甽 and 訓, Baxter (1992) and Schuessler (2007) reconstruct the word with a velar initial (Handel, 1998; Sagart, 1999), which undergoes irregular palatalization in the development to Middle Chinese (Baxter, 1992). * Based on other characters in the same phonetic series, e.g. 順 and 馴, Sagart (1999), and later, Baxter and Sagart (2014), reconstructs 川 with a lateral initial and suggests that only a *t- prefix would account for the Middle Chinese initial /t͡ɕʰ/. Schuessler (2007) relates this word to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kl(j)u(ŋ/k) (“river; valley”), whence 江 (OC *kroːŋ, “river”), 谷 (OC *kloːɡ, “valley”), Tibetan ཀླུང (klung, “river”), Burmese ချောင်း (hkyaung:, “stream”). STEDT notes that this does not account for the *-n coda. STEDT instead compares it to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s (“water; fluid; liquid; river; soak; spit”), whence 涕 (OC *tʰiːlʔ, “tears”), Proto-Kuki-Chin *tuj (“water; fluid; liquid”), Chepang तीः (“water; rain; river”); this depends on a reconstruction with a dental initial and requires positing an *‑n suffix not present in Tibeto-Burman languages.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Stroke order
Components
Components from cjk-decomp · MIT
Example sentences
汤川博士在科学研究上起了很重要的作用。
Dr. Yukawa played an important part in the scientific study.
Sentences from Tatoeba · CC-BY 2.0 FR
More examples & usage (AI)
Derived terms
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA