Chinese Etymology Resources What is Etymology? The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.Help Improve This Page: Use a free source not listed? Broken Link? Please Tell Us.Total Resources: 1 BACK TO RESOURCES MENU HanziYuan.net VISIT SITE About HanziYuan.net This site is wonderful.Just insert a Chinese character in the box in the top left of the home page to find out its origin, complete with several pictograms.