Dong Chinese dictionary

gài

approximately

Original meaning:

rod used to level off a heaped measure

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 既 represents the sound.

Components

木 Meaning component

mù

tree

木 hints at the original meaning of 概, "rod used to level off a heaped measure", which is no longer the most common meaning of 概 in modern Mandarin.

既 Sound component

jì

already

概 and 既 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.概 /*[k]ˤə[t]-s/
既 /*[k]ə[t]-s/

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Seal script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

概

gài

generally, approximately; general; approximate

概 (槩)

gài

old variant of 概[gài]

Most common words with 概

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	大概	roughly
	概念	concept
	概率	probability (math.)
	概括	to summarize
	气概	mettle

Sources

MTSU Chinese text computing

漢語多功能字庫

Original meaning:

Freq.

Word

Meaning