About
The character "孰" has an etymology tracing back to ancient culinary practices, with its structural composition of elements implying a vessel and an action originally denoting the concept of food being cooked. This initial meaning was later extended through phonetic borrowing to function as an interrogative pronoun in classical texts, effectively shifting its primary semantic role to inquire about persons or things. Consequently, to preserve the original sense of ripeness or cooked state, the character "熟" was formed by augmenting "孰" with a fire component, thereby creating a distinct graphical representation for the culinary meaning while leaving "孰" dedicated to its interrogative usage. Such developments illustrate how Chinese characters adapt through structural and semantic differentiation to meet the demands of linguistic clarity.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
孰能回答这个问题？
孰不知这个道理？
苹果与橘子，孰更美味？
学习与工作，孰更重要？
如此结果，孰能预料？
我不知道孰应该获得奖励。
在众多选项中，孰是最佳选择？
面对复杂局势，孰能保持冷静并做出正确决策？