| Change log entry 97239 | |
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| Processed by: | kbaiko (2026-08-22 14:14:23 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 89046 - submitted by 'cws' >> changed `variant of 瞭|了[liao3]` to `see 瞭|了[liao3]` 瞭 了 [[liao3]] /(bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly/ 了 了 [[liao3]] /to finish/(used with 得[de2] or 不[bu4] after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了[wang4bu5liao3] "cannot forget")/(literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無|无[wu2] or 不[bu4]) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least/variant of 瞭|了[liao3]/ From the definition above, 了[liao3] is a variant of 瞭[liao3]. However, we have this definition: 瞭解 了解 [[liao3jie3]] /variant of 了解[liao3jie3]/ 瞭[liao3] cannot be a variant of 了[liao3] though. 瞭[liao3] has one meaning as compared to 了[liao3] with four meanings/uses. Add to the fact that 了[liao3] was existing for centuries, it appears that 瞭[liao3] is a modern creation ===== Inquiry from Gemini 瞭 了 [[liao3]] /(bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly/ 了 了 [[liao3]] /..other definitions are stripped../variant of 瞭|了[liao3]/ 瞭解 了解 [[liao3jie3]] /variant of 了解[liao3jie3]/ but how come 瞭解 is a variant of 了解? why not 了解 is a variant of 瞭解? Gemini's answer: 了解 is the primary, standard form because the simple character 了 (liǎo) independently carries the historical meaning of "clear" or "to understand," predating the use of the more complex 瞭 in this context. Rather than 了解 being a "simplified" or lazy version of 瞭解, the reverse is closer to the truth: 瞭解 is an elaborated, visually-specific offshoot of the original word. The Original Meaning of 了 While most learners first encounter 了 as a grammatical particle (le) or a verb for finishing (liǎo, as in 完了), classical Chinese also used 了 to mean "clear" or "understood." You can see this preserved in idioms like 了然於心 (liǎorán yú xīn - to understand clearly in one's heart). Because of this, 了解 has been the correct and logical way to write the word for centuries. The Creation of 瞭 The character 瞭 was created later by adding the "eye" radical (目). It was originally designed to describe physical eyesight—specifically "to look from afar" (瞭望, liàowàng) or "bright, clear vision." Because the concepts of "seeing clearly" and "understanding clearly" overlap conceptually, writers gradually started substituting 了 with 瞭 to emphasize mental clarity through a visual metaphor. Official Standardization Dictionary maintainers (like CC-CEDICT) list 了解 as the main entry and 瞭解 as the variant because both major modern standardization bodies agree: Traditional Chinese (Taiwan/Hong Kong): The Taiwan Ministry of Education's official dictionary explicitly designates 了解 as the orthodox, standard form. 瞭解 is accepted in daily writing but is technically classified as a variant. Simplified Chinese (Mainland China): During the character simplification process in the 20th century, the liǎo pronunciation of 瞭 was officially merged back into the simpler 了 to reduce stroke counts. In mainland China today, 了解 is the only correct form, and 瞭 is strictly reserved for the liào pronunciation (like looking from a watchtower). ---------- Editor: Please don't paste a large section of AI-generated text into the change log comment. For one, I don't completely trust AI when it comes to Chinese etymology (at least, not yet). If you want to talk about Chinese etymology, I'm going to ask you provide a non-AI source. Or at least, use a Chinese model. Second, and more importantly, AI does not understand the intricacies of the CC-CEDICT format. Asking AI about CC-CEDICT syntax is pretty pointless unless you also provide our entire formatting guide on the wiki as context. Speaking of that, I suggest reading our wiki page on references: https://cc-cedict.org/wiki/references "see" - use this when the definitions are the same "variant of" - use this instead of "see" when the pinyin is also the same ----- >If 瞭[liao3] were to be documented as a visual variant of 瞭|了[liao3] entry, how it should be defined in CC-CEDICT? We won't do that. There is no 瞭[liao3] entry (only 瞭[liao4] and 瞭|了[liao3]) and I don't know what a "visual variant" is. >Are there other kinds of these variants? Where the variant+pronunciation can only be substituted for one very specific meaning from a character+pronunciation with multiple meanings Yes there are many. For example, 餽 馈 [[kui4]] /(literary) to make an offering to the gods/variant of 饋|馈[kui4]/ 饋 馈 [[kui4]] /(bound form) to present (a gift)/(bound form) to send; to transmit/ |
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# - 了 了 [[liao3]] /to finish/(used with 得[de2] or 不[bu4] after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了[wang4bu5liao3] "cannot forget")/(literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無|无[wu2] or 不[bu4]) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least/variant of 瞭|了[liao3]/ # + 了 了 [[liao3]] /to finish/(used with 得[de2] or 不[bu4] after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了[wang4bu5liao3] "cannot forget")/(literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無|无[wu2] or 不[bu4]) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least/see 瞭|了[liao3]/ |