沒

An associative compound:

氵 (“water”) — semantic element, indicating relation to water

勹 (“whirl, to wrap”) — represents a swirling current

又 (“hand”) — represents a hand/person

Together they depict a person being engulfed by water, giving the original meaning “to sink, to drown.”

From this sense, extended meanings developed:

- “to die” (by drowning → by extension, to perish)

- “to disappear, to vanish”

- later also “not, none” (as a negator, especially in Chinese)

沈沒 (침몰) — to sink, submerge

湮沒 (인몰) — to vanish, be buried, forgotten

沒落 (몰락) — downfall, ruin, collapse

沒收 (몰수) — confiscation, forfeiture

死沒 (사몰) — to die

沒有 (méiyǒu) — not have, there is not (Modern Chinese)

In Classical Chinese, 沒 primarily meant “to sink, to disappear.”

Later, the sense broadened to “to die, to vanish.” The more specific character 歿 was also used for “to die.”

From the Tang dynasty onward, 沒 developed a negating function (“not, none”).

This arose because the old negator 無 (m- initial) lost its original sound value in Mandarin, so 沒, which shared the same initial, took over as the negator.

In Modern Mandarin, 沒 is polyphonic:

mò → “to sink, to die”

méi → “not, none” (negator, as in 沒有 méiyǒu)