了

Glyph origin
According to the, a of a baby without arms. Compare with, where the arms are visible. The Shuowen defines 了 as "the crossing of lower legs".

In the, it is said that the pictogram instead depicts entangled legs.

Its relation with the meaning "to finish" is likely via sound loan, but an argument can be made about "entangled legs" → "tie"→ "finish"

Etymology 1
Verb “to finish; to be completed” > perfective aspect particle (了₁, weakened form) > change-of-state modal particle (了₂). It eventually replaced classical.

Two kinds of particle uses of 了 can be distinguished: the perfective aspect particle after verbs (conventionally written as 了₁) and the sentence-final modal particle (了₂). It is generally accepted that these two uses of 了 are derived from the concrete verb “to finish”. The grammaticalisation of this verb had become common in the Tang Dynasty, initially in the form of ‹verb + (object) + perfective 了› to indicate the completion of an action.

The perfective particle subsequently underwent further grammaticalisation to become the sentence-final change-of-state modal particle; has demonstrated that this last step may have involved the coalescence of sentence-final 了 with  in certain Mandarin dialects, as the pronunciations of 了₁ and 了₂ are distinct in these dialects, with 了₂ rhyming with 也.

Contrary to the suggestion in, this word is not related to , due to the non-existent correspondence between any given phonemes. 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬 are loans from Chinese.

Usage notes

 * Most of the time, 了 is translated by a past tense. But it can also indicate that one action is completed before another.
 * When used as the change of state particle, 了 can be translated by “now”, “already” or “not anymore”.
 * In a question, 了 is put before the particle.
 * : In Shanghainese, this term is primarily used to indicate the present tense and secondarily the perfective aspect. The present tense sense is derived from Old Shanghainese . For the usage difference between other perfectives, see 脫了.
 * : is often colloquially pronounced as  in all instances.
 * In a question, 了 is put before the particle.
 * : In Shanghainese, this term is primarily used to indicate the present tense and secondarily the perfective aspect. The present tense sense is derived from Old Shanghainese . For the usage difference between other perfectives, see 脫了.
 * : is often colloquially pronounced as  in all instances.
 * : is often colloquially pronounced as  in all instances.

Definitions

 * 1) to be finished; to be completed
 * 2) to end; to finish
 * 3) to understand; to comprehend
 * 4) clear; plain; understandable
 * 5) bright; intelligent; smart
 * 6)  completely; utterly; entirely
 * 7)  to use up; to lose; to waste; to squander
 * 1) bright; intelligent; smart
 * 2)  completely; utterly; entirely
 * 3)  to use up; to lose; to waste; to squander
 * 1)  to use up; to lose; to waste; to squander

Kanji

 * 1) to end

Noun

 * 1) end
 * 2)  concluded