然
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From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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然 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 月大火 (BKF), four-corner 23333, composition ⿱⿰𱼀犬灬)
Historical forms of the character 然 | ||
---|---|---|
Warring States | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) |
Bronze inscriptions | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
Phono-semantic compound (形聲/形声, OC *njen) : phonetic 肰 (OC *njen, “dog meat”) + semantic 火 (“fire”) – to burn. Also ideogrammic compound (會意/会意) . The derivative 燃 (OC *njen) stands for the original word in Modern Chinese.
Note that the upper left component is analyzed as 肉 (meat), and in the component 肰 it is drawn as a tilted 月 (“moon”), appearing more like 夕 (“evening”) with an extra stroke (𱼀); compare 祭, 將.
A fusion of 如 (OC *nja, *njas) with an element *-n which has a demonstrative meaning (Schuessler, 2007).
然
This word is fossilized and cannot be used to form new expressions in Modern Chinese. In earlier Chinese, it could freely refer to any verb clause.
With the alternative punctuation, the quote commands the reader to actually try this, which is somewhat reasonable. However in Classical Chinese, all pronouns, including this, can also used be topicalizers to merely continue the last clause but linguistically unfocus it instead of starting a new sentence. The topicalization interpretation is equal to the following:
Variety | Location | Words |
---|---|---|
Classical Chinese | 似 | |
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 像 | |
Northeastern Mandarin | Taiwan | 像 |
Malaysia | 像 | |
Singapore | 像 | |
Jiaoliao Mandarin | Yantai (Muping) | 像 |
Central Plains Mandarin | Wanrong | 像 |
Southwestern Mandarin | Chengdu | 像 |
Wuhan | 像 | |
Guilin | 像 | |
Cantonese | Guangzhou | 似 |
Hong Kong | 似 | |
Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu) | 似 | |
Singapore (Guangfu) | 似 | |
Gan | Nanchang | 像 |
Lichuan | 像 | |
Jin | Taiyuan | 像 |
Eastern Min | Fuzhou | 像 |
Southern Min | Xiamen | 像 |
Taipei | 像 | |
New Taipei (Sanxia) | 像 | |
Kaohsiung | 像 | |
Yilan | 像 | |
Changhua (Lukang) | 像 | |
Taichung | 像 | |
Tainan | 像 | |
Hsinchu | 像 | |
Kinmen | 像 | |
Penghu (Magong) | 像 | |
Singapore (Hokkien) | 𫝛, macam | |
Chaozhou | 然 | |
Shantou | 然 | |
Jieyang | 然 | |
Puning | 肖 | |
Singapore (Teochew) | 然, macam | |
Batam (Teochew) | 然, macam | |
Haikou | 像 | |
Southern Pinghua | Nanning (Tingzi) | 像 |
Wu | Danyang | 像 |
Ningbo | 像, 像人家, 像家 |
From Middle Chinese 然 (nyen, “-like”).
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