甚

The earliest forms show a cooking stand / hearth with a vessel placed over fire and flames rising from below.

Thus 甚 originally depicted “a vessel heated to an extreme degree” → “very hot”, “intense, excessive.”

This is why classical dictionaries describe it as:

- excessive,

- reaching extreme degree,

- heat / intensity from cooking.

Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「甚，太也。象器在灶上。」

“甚 means ‘excessive.’ It depicts a vessel placed on a stove.”

Thus the character’s meaning literally begins from intensity of fire and boiling, then metaphorically extends to intensity of degree, emotion, or quantity.

Semantic development:

Extreme heat / intensity — original literal image.

Severity / extremeness — “to a great degree,” “excessive.”

Adverbial intensifier — very, exceedingly, especially.

Interrogative element (Chinese) — “what, which,” via phonetic loan in 甚麼.

Emphatic usage (classical) — used to emphasize contrast (“even more”).

In Korean, 甚(심) is used in Sino-Korean compounds indicating excessiveness, severity, and extreme degree.

Severity / extremeness:

甚大 (심대) — 매우 큼; very great; enormous

甚少 (심소) — 매우 적음; very little; extremely few

甚劇 (심극) — 매우 심함; severe; intense

甚急 (심급) — 매우 급함; urgent; extremely pressing

Excessiveness / going beyond limits:

甚深 (심심) — 매우 깊음; very deep

甚重 (심중) — 정도가 매우 무거움; grave; serious

甚廣 (심광) — 매우 넓음; vast; extensive

Literary / philosophical intensifiers:

甚矣 (심의) — 심하도다; how severe/immense!

過甚 (과심) — 지나치게 심함; excessive; too great

甚或 (심혹) — 심지어; even; indeed; in some cases

In Classical Chinese 甚 is often used together with 矣, 哉, 也 to intensify emotion or description:

甚矣哉 — “How very … !”

甚矣 — “Too much! Very!”

In modern Chinese degree adverbs:

很 — quite

甚 / 甚是 — very (formal/literary)

極 — extremely, absolutely

Classical citations:

《孟子·梁惠王下》 (Mencius)

「民之饑也，非天之甚也。」

“When the people starve, it is not because Heaven’s severity is great” — 甚 = severe.

《詩經·大雅》 (The Book of Songs)

「民之罔極，職競用力，甚矣哉，生民之多艱也。」

“The people have no end to their toil; how very great indeed (甚矣哉) are the hardships of human life!”

《後漢書·馬援傳》 (Book of the Later Han Dynasty)

「甚矣哉，士之難進也！」

“How very difficult it is for a scholar to advance!”

These examples demonstrate both degree-intensifying and excessive/severe meanings.