<p>I looked it up in the Outlier Mini Traditional Characters dictionary (OTC) in Pleco. I also checked using Wiktionary.</p>
<ol>
<li>For questions of etymology / character origin, you'll need to consider traditional characters. Here the traditional character associated with the simplified character 写 is 寫.</li>
<li>寫 is a phono-semantic compound. 寫 = semantic 宀 + phonetic 舄 xì</li>
<li>OTC says that the &quot;meaning component&quot; 宀 &quot;building&quot; hints at the original meaning: &quot;moving something from one location to another&quot;.</li>
</ol>
<p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AF%AB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AF%AB</a></p>
<p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%99" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%99</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-08T23:13:37.230Z
Thank you. I don't see the Outlier mini as an add-on in Pleco IOS.
Ralph Bacolod
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-09T09:39:48.207Z
@RalphBacolod I have a paid-for version of Pleco on Android, maybe the free OTC is only available in the paid-for version of Pleco? I'm not sure. I'll edit my answer.
goPlayerJuggler
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-08T16:43:39.057Z
2023-03-09T09:41:48.717Z
2023-03-09T09:41:48.717Z
goPlayerJuggler
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with interest in etymology, I often find myself looking into such things like the source of terms.  Please note that such things are often only theorized and will not help with learning the meaning of the terms themselves much (learning vs studying a language).  An english equivalent would be studying why the word redo is re+do, or why the word cat is c+at.  This kind of thing gets messy and confusing fast-- although interesting for sure I think :)</p>
<hr />
<p>Per baidu, 寫 originally referred to using a brush, and was a last name, and the same as 瀉. This gives it the associated meaning of writing, or pouring out your thoughts etc. over time. It has also had many other meanings, in the past and the present.</p>
<p>The character itself appeared around warring states period, and is mainly based on the term dragonfly.  There is no meaning shared, but the term dragonfly had similar pronunciation.  Therefore it doesn't seem that the components themselves have a strong tie to the meaning of the character, at least not one that's well established.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-08T18:33:06.260Z
2023-03-08T18:33:06.260Z
zagrycha
<p>写 is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters" rel="nofollow noreferrer">simplified</a> form of the character, and simplified characters often have no relation whatsoever to etymology. (This is why Chineseteacher_Henry's answer is wrong, the simplified form has nothing to do with etymology.) The traditional form of the character is 寫, which is composed of 宀 and 舄.</p>
<p>宀 is the semantic part of the character, which means that it gives the character meaning. 宀 is a roof and refers to enclosures and buildings in general.</p>
<p>舄 (xì) is the phonetic part, which gives the character its pronunciation. Its meaning has nothing to do with the meaning of any characters it is a part of.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AF%AB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AF%AB</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.zdic.net/hant/%E5%AF%AB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.zdic.net/hant/%E5%AF%AB</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-10T01:40:25.800Z
2023-03-10T17:08:06.927Z
2023-03-10T17:08:06.927Z
mucube
<p>Etymology can help you understand and comprehend Chinese characters, but not every character follows its etymology. Additionally, there are many simplified characters that are quite different from their traditional counterparts, making it difficult to explain them through etymology. The character you mentioned, &quot;写&quot; (xiě), is one such example.</p>
<p>When teaching this character to students, I explain that the top radical represents &quot;house,&quot; &quot;building,&quot; or &quot;structure,&quot; while the bottom part looks like a person sitting on a horizontal bar. Therefore, the overall meaning of the character is a person sitting on a horizontal bar inside a house or building, writing something.</p>
<p>I hope this explanation helps you.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-10T18:45:47.207Z
This does not answer the question.
Olle Linge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-09T03:45:28.660Z
2023-03-09T03:45:28.660Z
Henryfrombeijing
<p>Mate, this is a simplified character, so it is normal that you cannot understand how it works. If you really wanna learn Chinese better, you should learn traditional Chinese. See how <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/53944">zagracha</a> explained.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-09T15:55:50.423Z
2023-03-09T15:55:50.423Z
Hins
<p>The meaning of writing is: &quot;write on paper; create (literary works)&quot;. Because Chinese is a pictographic character, my understanding is: &quot;attention&quot; is like a piece of paper, like a header, &quot;and&quot; is like a line of words written on paper, combined into &quot;writing&quot;</p>
<p>写的意思是：“在纸上写作；创作（文字作品）”，因为汉语是象形字，我的理解是：“冖”像一张纸，像页眉，“与”像在纸上写的一行行文字，组合成“写”</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-17T21:22:52.877Z
This doesn't answer the question.
mucube
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-19T04:30:49.170Z
that is ok. As a Chinese, many people also don't konw. Our first response was to explained literally。
chacebai
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-12T05:43:04.977Z
2023-03-12T05:43:04.977Z
chacebai
<p>冖 + 与 = 写。how does mi and yu become xie? Mi is the cover radical and Yu means and; with; to; for; give, grant according to Pleco.</p>

<characters><etymology><radicals>
I am trying to understand 写
# I am trying to understand 写

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-03-08)

冖 + 与 = 写。how does mi and yu become xie? Mi is the cover radical and Yu means and; with; to; for; give, grant according to Pleco.

**Tags:** characters, etymology, radicals

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## 6 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-03-08. Score: 4

I looked it up in the Outlier Mini Traditional Characters dictionary (OTC) in Pleco. I also checked using Wiktionary.

1. For questions of etymology / character origin, you'll need to consider traditional characters. Here the traditional character associated with the simplified character 写 is 寫.
2. 寫 is a phono-semantic compound. 寫 = semantic 宀 + phonetic 舄 xì
3. OTC says that the "meaning component" 宀 "building" hints at the original meaning: "moving something from one location to another".

<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AF%AB>

<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%99>

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you. I don't see the Outlier mini as an add-on in Pleco IOS.  
> **username_1**: @RalphBacolod I have a paid-for version of Pleco on Android, maybe the free OTC is only available in the paid-for version of Pleco? I'm not sure. I'll edit my answer.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-03-08. Score: 2

There is absolutely nothing wrong with interest in etymology, I often find myself looking into such things like the source of terms. Please note that such things are often only theorized and will not help with learning the meaning of the terms themselves much (learning vs studying a language). An english equivalent would be studying why the word redo is re+do, or why the word cat is c+at. This kind of thing gets messy and confusing fast-- although interesting for sure I think :)

---

Per baidu, 寫 originally referred to using a brush, and was a last name, and the same as 瀉. This gives it the associated meaning of writing, or pouring out your thoughts etc. over time. It has also had many other meanings, in the past and the present.

The character itself appeared around warring states period, and is mainly based on the term dragonfly. There is no meaning shared, but the term dragonfly had similar pronunciation. Therefore it doesn't seem that the components themselves have a strong tie to the meaning of the character, at least not one that's well established.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2023-03-10. Score: 2

写 is the [simplified](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters) form of the character, and simplified characters often have no relation whatsoever to etymology. (This is why Chineseteacher\_Henry's answer is wrong, the simplified form has nothing to do with etymology.) The traditional form of the character is 寫, which is composed of 宀 and 舄.

宀 is the semantic part of the character, which means that it gives the character meaning. 宀 is a roof and refers to enclosures and buildings in general.

舄 (xì) is the phonetic part, which gives the character its pronunciation. Its meaning has nothing to do with the meaning of any characters it is a part of.

<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AF%AB>

<https://www.zdic.net/hant/%E5%AF%AB>


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### Answer by username_4 on 2023-03-09. Score: 1

Etymology can help you understand and comprehend Chinese characters, but not every character follows its etymology. Additionally, there are many simplified characters that are quite different from their traditional counterparts, making it difficult to explain them through etymology. The character you mentioned, "写" (xiě), is one such example.

When teaching this character to students, I explain that the top radical represents "house," "building," or "structure," while the bottom part looks like a person sitting on a horizontal bar. Therefore, the overall meaning of the character is a person sitting on a horizontal bar inside a house or building, writing something.

I hope this explanation helps you.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: This does not answer the question.  

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### Answer by username_6 on 2023-03-09. Score: 0

Mate, this is a simplified character, so it is normal that you cannot understand how it works. If you really wanna learn Chinese better, you should learn traditional Chinese. See how [zagracha](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/53944) explained.


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### Answer by username_7 on 2023-03-12. Score: -1

The meaning of writing is: "write on paper; create (literary works)". Because Chinese is a pictographic character, my understanding is: "attention" is like a piece of paper, like a header, "and" is like a line of words written on paper, combined into "writing"

写的意思是：“在纸上写作；创作（文字作品）”，因为汉语是象形字，我的理解是：“冖”像一张纸，像页眉，“与”像在纸上写的一行行文字，组合成“写”

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: This doesn't answer the question.  
> **username_7**: that is ok. As a Chinese, many people also don't konw. Our first response was to explained literally。  

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