In Mandarin Chinese, 石 (Pinyin: shí 🔊) means “stone” or “rock”.
Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:
A depiction of a rock or stone beneath a cliff, suggesting a substantial pile of rocks/stones. Sterile/barren is by association (← rocky, barren soil), as is rigid (← rigid objects). Unit of volume is a borrowed meaning.
According to Wiktionary, this hanzi is a pictogram of
a stone beneath a cliff (厂). The cliff was subsequently distorted into 丆. Alternatively, a cave set into the side of a cliff or mountain.
This latter hypothesis can explain why 口 (“mouth” etc.) is a part of 石.
Some compounds of 石 include
- 火 + 石 = 火石 (huǒshí): flint
- 玉 + 石 = 玉石 (yùshí): jade stone; (figuratively) good and bad
- 白 + 云 + 石 = 白云石 (báiyúnshí): dolomite
- 石 + 子 = 石子 (shízǐ): pebble
- 石 + 工 = 石工 (shígōng): stonemason, mason
- 石 + 田 = 石田 (shítián): (literary) uncultivable land; (literary, figuratively) useless thing
- 石 + 油 = 石油 (shíyóu 🔊) ): petroleum
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