Definitions
why; how; when; what; where
Etymology
Depicts a type of fruit with something cut off from it. The component that depicts the fruit was later reanalyzed as phonetic component 匃. Based on the original meaning "cut fruit". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
About
In classical Chinese, 曷 is an interrogative pronoun meaning "why", "what", "how", or "when", frequently appearing in rhetorical questions or temporal inquiries. Its structure combines 曰 (meaning "to speak") on top with 匃 (resembling 勹 enclosing 人) below. Originally, the character depicted a fruit with something cut off; the lower component represented the fruit and was later reanalyzed as the phonetic element 匃. The original meaning "cut fruit" was abandoned when the character was borrowed phonetically for its interrogative function, and it remains largely confined to formal, archaic contexts.
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