曷 — Edit Snapshot — Chinese Character Wiki

hé

why? what? where?

approved by Prismcool · May 23, 2024, 02:49 AM · Reviewed by Prismcool on May 23, 2024, 02:49 AM

Wrong original meaning

Changed fields: hint, originalMeaning

Original meaning: fruit that has been cut down

Depicts fruit being cut down from a tree. Based on the original meaning "fruit that has been cut down". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

◎ Iconic component

characterless component

Depicts something that has been cut from the fruit.

匃 Sound component

gài beggar

Originally depicted a type of fruit. Later reanalyzed as phonetic component 匃.

Change in sound

曷 and 匃 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
曷 *[g]ˤat
匃 *[k]ˤat

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hat	[g]ˤat	what

《說文》：“曷，何也。从曰，匃聲。”