Character etymology for Elementary - Keys, Wallet, Phone 去

mandarinboy

September 13, 2008 at 12:01 PM posted in General Discussion

Another simple character but also very frequent one is 去,qù, to go away. This is today’s lesson.

 

Character: 去

 

Traditional form: 去  

Pinyin: qù

 

Meaning:  go away, leave, depart

 

Frequency: 52

Strokes: 5

 

Decomposition:

土 tǔ, earth + 厶 sī, private,secret

 

Radical part: 厶 sī,

Radical meaning: private, secret

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

 

 

Etymology: 

 

 

 

 

It is believed to be a man over the exit of a dwelling cave. Hence the meaning to go away, leave the cave or home.  

Link to nciku usage of the character 在 :

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%8E%BB/1312364

Example words:

 

过去 guò qu (in the) past / former / previous / to go over / to pass by 

下去 xià qu to go down / to descend / to go on / to continue 

上去 shàng qù to go up 

离去 lí qù to leave / to exit 

死去 sǐ qù to die 

进去 jìn qù to go in 

从去年 cóng qù nián since last year 

抹去 mǒ qù to erase 

辞去 cí qù to resign / to quit 

带去 dài qu bring away 

免去职务 miǎn qù zhí wù to relieve from office / to sack 

去国外 qù guó wài to go abroad 

失去意识 shī qù yì shí unconscious 

过去经验 guò qu jīng yàn past experience

去垢剂 qù gòu jì detergent