Character etymology for Newbie lesson "Come on up!" 电
mandarinboy
September 20, 2008, 03:16 PM posted in General Discussion
Today we look at a useful character 电 diàn (electricity). It is used in a large amount of words that is about electricity. Well worth learning. Character: 电 Traditional form: 電 Meaning: electricity; electric; lightning Frequency: 298 Strokes: 5 Decomposition: 田 tián field, arable land, cultivated 乚 yǐn hidden, mysterious, secret, to conceal Radical part: 田 diàn Alternative forms of radical: 田由甲申 Radical meaning: field Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)
Etymology: To understand this character we first need to look at the traditional form of the character: 電
The original character is very similar to the traditional form:
Pinyin: diàn 
What we see is the rain 雨 and under that lightning 电. Since lightning is discharge of electricity the character come to mean electricity. Flashes in rain is electricity. From the traditional form (電) the rain part (雨) where removed when it where simplified and only the lightning part (电) is left. The character means today both electricity and lightning (闪电 shǎn diàn =lightning where 闪 shǎn means flash ).
Link to nciku usage of the character 电 (examples, sound etc)
http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E7%94%B5/1303229
Example words:
电话 diàn huà telephone / phone call
电脑 diàn nǎo computer
电影 diàn yǐng movie / film
电视 diàn shì television / TV
电子邮件 diàn zǐ yóu jiàn electronic mail / email
家电 jiā diàn household electric appliance / abbr. for 家用电器
电视剧 diàn shì jù TV play / soap opera
电力 diàn lì electrical power / electricity
电子商务 diàn zǐ shāng wù e-commerce
电动 diàn dòng electric powered
电工 diàn gōng electrician
水电 shuǐ diàn hydroelectric power
电脑网络 diàn nǎo wǎng luò Internet
电梯 diàn tī elevator
电压 diàn yā voltage
静电 jìng diàn static electricity
中央电视台 Zhōng yāng diàn shì tái CCTV (Chinese state television)
有线电视 yǒu xiàn diàn shì cable television
充电器 chōng diàn qì
无线电 wú xiàn diàn wireless
电脑网 diàn nǎo wǎng computer network / Internet
电池 diàn chí battery
电邮 diàn yóu email
电话卡 diàn huà kǎ telephone card
电动机 diàn dòng jī electric motor
卫星电视 wèi xīng diàn shì satellite TV
高清电视 gāo qīng diàn shì HDTV; high definition TV
电灯 diàn dēng electric light
核电 hé diàn nuclear power
电吹风 diàn chuī fēng hair dryer
电脑软件 diàn nǎo ruǎn jiàn computer software
电饭煲 diàn fàn bào rice cooker
手提电脑 shǒu tí diàn nǎo portable computer
公用电话 gōng yòng diàn huà public phone
changye
September 21, 2008, 03:45 AMHi mandarinboy,
My etymology books say that “雨” was added to 电 when it was a bronze inscription, and before that, i.e. in oracle bone scripts, there was no 雨 in the character. The same goes for the character “雷” (thunder).
Its historical transition is just worth seeing. Please click on the link and enjoy it. For the record, the original meaning of “申” is also “lightening”, which is the reason the shapes of 电 and 申 are very similar to each other.
mandarinboy
September 21, 2008, 05:27 AMAccording to most of the books I check the original form, 电, where only used when the meaning where just lightning. When it also become to mean electricity the 雨 rain part where added and later removed. I guess this is hard to find the real truth here, It's like the egg and then hen debate. Anyway, Yes, to be clear I should go back all the way with the character since you are absolutely true that the character have been changed several times in history.
changye
September 21, 2008, 06:40 AMHi mandarinboy,
I think that the character "電" obtained a new meaning "electricity" only recently, perhaps after the Franklin's experiment in the 18th century...hehe. Conversely speaking, "電" had long been used in the sense of "lightening" even after the radical "雨" was added to "电" more than two thousand years ago. Anyway, there was no concept of "electricity" in China at that time.
changye
September 21, 2008, 03:44 AMHi mandarinboy,
My etymology books say that “雨” was added to 电 when it was a bronze inscription, and before that, i.e. in oracle bone scripts, there was no 雨 in the character. The same goes for the character “雷” (thunder).
Its historical transition is just worth seeing. Please click on the link and enjoy it. For the record, the original meaning of “申” is also “lightening”, which is the reason the shapes of 电 and 申 are very similar to each other.
http://www.internationalscientific.org/CharacterASP/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E9%9B%B7&submitButton1=Etymology