Chinese symbol for “etymology”
词源
cí yuán
Traditional: 詞源
etymology; origin of a word
The closest CC-CEDICT match for etymology is 词源 (cí yuán), defined as: etymology; origin of a word.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “etymology”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 字源 | zì yuán | etymology (of a non-Chinese word); origin of a character |
| 语源 (語源) | yǔ yuán | etymology |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 词源.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 歌词 (歌詞) | gē cí | song lyric; lyrics |
| 词汇 (詞匯) | cí huì | variant of 词汇 (cí huì) |
| 名词 (名詞) | míng cí | (linguistics) noun; term (name for a concept) |
| 词语 (詞語) | cí yǔ | word (general term including monosyllables through to short phrases); term (e.g. technical term) |
| 单词 (單詞) | dān cí | word; 个 (gè) |
| 资源 (資源) | zī yuán | natural resource (such as water or minerals); resource (such as manpower or tourism) |
| 来源 (來源) | lái yuán | source (of information etc); origin |
| 能源 | néng yuán | energy sources; energy |
See also: Japanese symbol for “etymology”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.