<p>Chinese characters and English alphabets developed independently. There's nothing in common between the two systems.</p>

<p>子 and Z or 匹 and π don't even look similar.</p>

<p>Human beings can only produce limited number of sound tones. It is inevitable that some pronunciations would be similar between different languages.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-23T16:57:43.410Z
I knew about limitations of human beings, the question was about coincidence or phenomenon. But if you deny visual similarity, then you probably can't be unbiased.
Dims
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-23T17:27:46.027Z
Human brain can trick itself into seeing things that's not there. For example, pareidolia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia   Also check out Optical illusion in Wiki  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-23T17:40:03.070Z
Interesting Mandarin - English coincidences https://eastasiastudent.net/china/mandarin/english-coincidences/ is also interesting.
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-23T10:45:39.627Z
2016-10-23T10:53:40.833Z
2016-10-23T10:53:40.833Z
Tang Ho
<p>This is a subject very close to my heart as I am an amateur etymologist. Since I have been learning Chinese, I have also been collecting words whose sound and meaning are similar to other languages. I have quite a few. </p>

<p>Etymologists propose a language called Proto-Indo-European as the origin of the Indo-Germanic languages. One needs to look for words with similar sounds and meanings when comparing languages.</p>

<p>It is I think unreasonable to assume that the tribes that spoke this language only drifted westwards, none going east. However, as the West had only very limited access to China in the last 2000 years, they had neither the opportunity nor the desire nor the means or ability to include Chinese in their studies, which is their loss, as I see it.</p>

<p>Particularly 子, meaning son, child, seed may be related to German zeugen, which means, among other things, beget a child. </p>

<p>German uses -zeug as a suffix with a meaning like '-thing' in words like Spielzeug, Werkzeug， Bettzeug. Chinese has 子 in many combinations with a similar useage, such as 牌子， 量子， 脑子 . </p>

<p>May all just be coincidence, but the belief that the Proto-Indo-Europeans only walked westwards seems very egocentric of western scholars.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-25T00:15:14.053Z
Chinese is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which is distinct from the Indo-European language family. No one is claiming that Indo-Europeans only went west. Indeed, there are speakers of Tajik Persian, an Indo-European language, native to Western China.
Colin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-25T09:02:39.207Z
Families are ordered in family trees, trees which branch. Where the branches meet, there, at least, are commonalities. Also, these categories were not invented by the infallible God of Language, but by fallible, mortal men. I would not presume that these categories are absolute or unshakeable, nor that they neither had nor have commonalities. Humans and mice are very different, but somewhere around 99% of our genetic material is identical. If you look at Julius Pokorny's Dictionary of the PIE language, you will find a lot of guesswork. Do you see any similarity between willow and 柳？
Gangosa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-25T18:00:49.893Z
We have to rely on the judgements of experts in the field of historical linguistics. They do not believe there is any reason for linking indo-european and sino-tibetan
Colin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-25T22:43:09.210Z
Haha! "Experts" locked Galileo up and told us the world is the centre of everything and flat! We also have to rely on our own judgement. Current theory says, mankind began in Africa and migrated. Which language did they speak? PIE or Sino-Tibetean?
Gangosa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-23T13:10:45.927Z
2016-10-23T13:10:45.927Z
Gangosa
<p>I am learning Chinese and met few characters, which are looking like western characters with similar pronunciation.</p>

<p>Examples are</p>

<p>子</p>

<p>which pronounced like <code>zi</code> and visually similar to <code>Z</code> and</p>

<p>匹</p>

<p>which pronounced like <code>pi</code> and visually similar to Greek <code>π</code>.</p>

<p>Is this just by coincidence, or this is some real language borrowing phenomenon?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-24T01:23:06.577Z
Because you are (quite frankly) incorrect. It's a pure coincidence, the two alphabets are developed completely independently from each other.
Registered User
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-24T04:24:21.480Z
just coincidence for example , 兀 日 匚 口 卅 廿 山 长上 义
chsword
<characters>
Why do some Chinese characters look like western ones?
# Why do some Chinese characters look like western ones?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-10-23)

I am learning Chinese and met few characters, which are looking like western characters with similar pronunciation.

Examples are

子

which pronounced like `zi` and visually similar to `Z` and

匹

which pronounced like `pi` and visually similar to Greek `π`.

Is this just by coincidence, or this is some real language borrowing phenomenon?

**Tags:** characters

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Because you are (quite frankly) incorrect. It's a pure coincidence, the two alphabets are developed completely independently from each other.  
> **username_2**: just coincidence for example , 兀 日 匚 口 卅 廿 山 长上 义  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-10-23. Score: 4

Chinese characters and English alphabets developed independently. There's nothing in common between the two systems.

子 and Z or 匹 and π don't even look similar.

Human beings can only produce limited number of sound tones. It is inevitable that some pronunciations would be similar between different languages.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I knew about limitations of human beings, the question was about coincidence or phenomenon. But if you deny visual similarity, then you probably can't be unbiased.  
> **username_3**: Human brain can trick itself into seeing things that's not there. For example, pareidolia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia   Also check out Optical illusion in Wiki  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion  
> **username_3**: Interesting Mandarin - English coincidences https://eastasiastudent.net/china/mandarin/english-coincidences/ is also interesting.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-10-23. Score: -3

This is a subject very close to my heart as I am an amateur etymologist. Since I have been learning Chinese, I have also been collecting words whose sound and meaning are similar to other languages. I have quite a few.

Etymologists propose a language called Proto-Indo-European as the origin of the Indo-Germanic languages. One needs to look for words with similar sounds and meanings when comparing languages.

It is I think unreasonable to assume that the tribes that spoke this language only drifted westwards, none going east. However, as the West had only very limited access to China in the last 2000 years, they had neither the opportunity nor the desire nor the means or ability to include Chinese in their studies, which is their loss, as I see it.

Particularly 子, meaning son, child, seed may be related to German zeugen, which means, among other things, beget a child.

German uses -zeug as a suffix with a meaning like '-thing' in words like Spielzeug, Werkzeug， Bettzeug. Chinese has 子 in many combinations with a similar useage, such as 牌子， 量子， 脑子 .

May all just be coincidence, but the belief that the Proto-Indo-Europeans only walked westwards seems very egocentric of western scholars.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Chinese is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which is distinct from the Indo-European language family. No one is claiming that Indo-Europeans only went west. Indeed, there are speakers of Tajik Persian, an Indo-European language, native to Western China.  
> **username_4**: Families are ordered in family trees, trees which branch. Where the branches meet, there, at least, are commonalities. Also, these categories were not invented by the infallible God of Language, but by fallible, mortal men. I would not presume that these categories are absolute or unshakeable, nor that they neither had nor have commonalities. Humans and mice are very different, but somewhere around 99% of our genetic material is identical. If you look at Julius Pokorny's Dictionary of the PIE language, you will find a lot of guesswork. Do you see any similarity between willow and 柳？  
> **username_5**: We have to rely on the judgements of experts in the field of historical linguistics. They do not believe there is any reason for linking indo-european and sino-tibetan  
> **username_4**: Haha! "Experts" locked Galileo up and told us the world is the centre of everything and flat! We also have to rely on our own judgement. Current theory says, mankind began in Africa and migrated. Which language did they speak? PIE or Sino-Tibetean?  

---

