<p><a href="http://www.wenlin.com/gate">Wen Lin</a> is an amazing piece of software that has all of the etymological features you are looking for. The central downside is that it is a bit pricey. Most universities have a copy, though, and there may be the opportunity to get some kind of student pricing discount. (Not sure if that applies to your case.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T16:47:40.310Z
They have recently cut their prices in half so it now costs $99 to download. I use it every single day, so $99 is really worth it for the value it adds to my Chinese studies.
rramphal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T18:05:05.260Z
+1, Wenlin is the ultimate dictionary/reference for those who can afford it. Unfortunately, many of us cannot... :(
dr Hannibal Lecter
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T06:37:51.640Z
2011-12-24T06:37:51.640Z
tbaums
<p>I found the <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0824829751">ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese</a> to be a great source if you're interested in the evolution of the prounciation and meaning of Chinese words.  It avoids etymology of character structure though; for that, I would suggest <a href="http://chineseetymology.org/">chineseetymology.org</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T17:02:09.123Z
in its own right, character etymology is a worthy endeavor to discover how characters came about. a very good example is 東 and 西 and how they are used to write 東西. many people believe that 東 is the sun setting behind a tree, and 西 a bird in its nest. however, as [R. Sears has pointed out](http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?submitButton1=Etymology&characterInput=%E6%9D%B1), 東 and 西 are better explained as 'bag' and 'basket'—and 東西 as 'what you put into bags and baskets—things, stuff' (cf. German "Sack und Pack", i.e. 'all your stuff').
flow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-21T23:41:55.537Z
+1 for resources on actual etymology, instead of only character "etymology".
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-28T17:04:20.157Z
2011-12-28T17:04:20.157Z
Claw
<p><a href="http://zhongwen.com/">zhongwen.com</a> has a very limited amount of information on each character's origin.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T05:43:27.223Z
2011-12-24T05:43:27.223Z
Don Kirkby
<p>This is an excellent one (and it's free too ;) )</p>

<p><a href="http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-dictionary.php" rel="nofollow">Yellow Bridge</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-21T22:55:09.707Z
2013-01-21T22:55:09.707Z
user3871
<p>In terms of the individual 漢字 (characters), there's the classic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi" rel="nofollow">說文解字</a> (<em>Shuowen Jiezi</em>) written in the 1st to 2nd century AD, which is the first and the most authoritative Chinese dictionary to attempt to trace the origin and evolution of each character. <a href="http://www.shuowen.org/" rel="nofollow">An online version is available here,</a> or ZDict as mentioned above also contains the Shuowen entry.</p>

<p>The obvious drawback is that you need to know how to read 文言文 (classical Chinese). Be aware also that, although traditionally considered the gold standard for Chinese etymology, recent archaeological findings have necessitated new derivations for some characters; the Wikipedia page has a general explanation on this.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-04T06:05:04.037Z
Many explanations in *Shuowen* are incorrect, so it shouldn't be the "gold standard". But still, it is a good start to learn etymology by *Shuowen*. I recommend the book `說文解字考正` by 董蓮池, which includes recent archaeological findings besides the original text of *Shuowen* (printed in the traditional typeface, and the seal script for each entry is kept).
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-04T03:30:23.137Z
2014-10-04T03:30:23.137Z
Marc
<p>In <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/1838/what-was-this-online-dictionarys-name-with-ancient-traditional-and-simplified-c/1839#1839">this post</a> I gave an overview of online resources:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>On <a href="http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en</a> you can see how a character
  evolved, the simplified and traditional characters.</p>
  
  <p>Another similar website is
  <a href="http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx</a> .</p>
  
  <p>Zdict is completely in Chinese:
  <a href="http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE7Zdic9BZdicAE.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE7Zdic9BZdicAE.htm</a></p>
  
  <p>Here is another website in Chinese (that only supports transitional
  characters): <a href="http://alphads10-2.hkbu.edu.hk/~lcprichi/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://alphads10-2.hkbu.edu.hk/~lcprichi/</a></p>
  
  <p>As Aristide mentioned <a href="http://www.yellowbridge.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.yellowbridge.com</a> has similar
  functionality.</p>
  
  <p>Although it doesn't show how the characters evolved, I also like
  <a href="http://zhongwen.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://zhongwen.com</a> It explains how characters are composed out of other characters.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-21T09:07:13.657Z
2013-01-21T09:07:13.657Z
2017-04-13T12:48:06.093Z
BertR
<p>I like <a href="http://chinese-characters.org" rel="nofollow">http://chinese-characters.org</a>
It's simple and clear. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T15:28:11.957Z
2014-10-01T15:28:11.957Z
MmM
<p>There's a list of etymology resources (including a couple already mentioned) on this page:
<a href="http://mandarinportal.com/etymology.php" rel="nofollow">http://mandarinportal.com/etymology.php</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-21T02:02:03.133Z
2013-01-21T02:02:03.133Z
James
<p><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnrenfroe/outlier-dictionary-of-chinese-characters" rel="nofollow">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnrenfroe/outlier-dictionary-of-chinese-characters</a> this project on Kickstartes sound interesting.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-08T18:18:13.297Z
2015-08-08T18:18:13.297Z
Stone
<p>Here's some sites I've looked up for you.
Sorry if these are not what you are looking for.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.chineseetymology.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.chineseetymology.org</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-etymology.php?zi=%E5%9C%8B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-etymology.php?zi=國</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.zhongwen.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.zhongwen.com/</a>
<a href="http://portal.mandarinportal.com/etymology.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://portal.mandarinportal.com/etymology.php</a> <br></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2014-10-01T17:14:32.880Z
2020-08-29T23:24:51.867Z
2020-08-29T23:24:51.867Z
YoungerDryas
<p>辞源</p>

<p>This is the exact book you should refer.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-03T21:22:37.300Z
2014-10-03T21:22:37.300Z
Xiaoge Su
<p>What dictionaries (online, software-based or in paper form) explain the origins of a word and its evolution over time? E.g. how the character was once written, how the usage – and the meaning – changed over time.</p>

<software><academic><etymology><dictionary>
What etymology dictionaries are available?
# What etymology dictionaries are available?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-12-24)

What dictionaries (online, software-based or in paper form) explain the origins of a word and its evolution over time? E.g. how the character was once written, how the usage – and the meaning – changed over time.

**Tags:** software, academic, etymology, dictionary


---

## 11 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-12-24. Score: 9

[Wen Lin](http://www.wenlin.com/gate) is an amazing piece of software that has all of the etymological features you are looking for. The central downside is that it is a bit pricey. Most universities have a copy, though, and there may be the opportunity to get some kind of student pricing discount. (Not sure if that applies to your case.)

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: +1, Wenlin is the ultimate dictionary/reference for those who can afford it. Unfortunately, many of us cannot... :(  
> **username_2**: They have recently cut their prices in half so it now costs $99 to download. I use it every single day, so $99 is really worth it for the value it adds to my Chinese studies.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2011-12-28. Score: 6

I found the [ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese](http://rads.stackoverusername_5.com/amzn/click/0824829751) to be a great source if you're interested in the evolution of the prounciation and meaning of Chinese words. It avoids etymology of character structure though; for that, I would suggest [chineseetymology.org](http://chineseetymology.org/).

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: +1 for resources on actual etymology, instead of only character "etymology".  
> **username_5**: in its own right, character etymology is a worthy endeavor to discover how characters came about. a very good example is 東 and 西 and how they are used to write 東西. many people believe that 東 is the sun setting behind a tree, and 西 a bird in its nest. however, as [R. Sears has pointed out](http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?submitButton1=Etymology&characterInput=%E6%9D%B1), 東 and 西 are better explained as 'bag' and 'basket'—and 東西 as 'what you put into bags and baskets—things, stuff' (cf. German "Sack und Pack", i.e. 'all your stuff').  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2011-12-24. Score: 4

[zhongwen.com](http://zhongwen.com/) has a very limited amount of information on each character's origin.


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### Answer by username_8 on 2013-01-21. Score: 2

This is an excellent one (and it's free too ;) )

[Yellow Bridge](http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-dictionary.php)


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### Answer by username_9 on 2014-10-04. Score: 2

In terms of the individual 漢字 (characters), there's the classic [說文解字](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi) (*Shuowen Jiezi*) written in the 1st to 2nd century AD, which is the first and the most authoritative Chinese dictionary to attempt to trace the origin and evolution of each character. [An online version is available here,](http://www.shuowen.org/) or ZDict as mentioned above also contains the Shuowen entry.

The obvious drawback is that you need to know how to read 文言文 (classical Chinese). Be aware also that, although traditionally considered the gold standard for Chinese etymology, recent archaeological findings have necessitated new derivations for some characters; the Wikipedia page has a general explanation on this.

> **Comments:**
> **username_10**: Many explanations in *Shuowen* are incorrect, so it shouldn't be the "gold standard". But still, it is a good start to learn etymology by *Shuowen*. I recommend the book `說文解字考正` by 董蓮池, which includes recent archaeological findings besides the original text of *Shuowen* (printed in the traditional typeface, and the seal script for each entry is kept).  

---

### Answer by username_11 on 2013-01-21. Score: 1

In [this post](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/1838/what-was-this-online-dictionarys-name-with-ancient-traditional-and-simplified-c/1839#1839) I gave an overview of online resources:

> On <http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en> you can see how a character
> evolved, the simplified and traditional characters.
>
> Another similar website is
> <http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx> .
>
> Zdict is completely in Chinese:
> <http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE7Zdic9BZdicAE.htm>
>
> Here is another website in Chinese (that only supports transitional
> characters): <http://alphads10-2.hkbu.edu.hk/~lcprichi/>
>
> As Aristide mentioned <http://www.yellowbridge.com> has similar
> functionality.
>
> Although it doesn't show how the characters evolved, I also like
> <http://zhongwen.com> It explains how characters are composed out of other characters.


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### Answer by username_12 on 2014-10-01. Score: 0

I like <http://chinese-characters.org>
It's simple and clear.


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### Answer by username_13 on 2013-01-21. Score: 0

There's a list of etymology resources (including a couple already mentioned) on this page:
<http://mandarinportal.com/etymology.php>


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### Answer by username_14 on 2015-08-08. Score: 0

<https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnrenfroe/outlier-dictionary-of-chinese-characters> this project on Kickstartes sound interesting.


---

### Answer by username_15 on 2014-10-01. Score: 0

Here's some sites I've looked up for you.
Sorry if these are not what you are looking for.

<http://www.chineseetymology.org>   
[http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-etymology.php?zi=國](http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-etymology.php?zi=%E5%9C%8B)   
<http://www.zhongwen.com/>
<http://portal.mandarinportal.com/etymology.php>


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### Answer by username_16 on 2014-10-03. Score: -1

辞源

This is the exact book you should refer.


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