来
lái
to come
(used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3 yi3 lai2]); for the past (amount of time); (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 來世|来世[lai2 shi4]); (between two verbs) in order to; (after a round number) approximately; (used after 得[de2] to indicate possibility, as in 談得來|谈得来[tan2 de5 lai2], or after 不[bu4] to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不來|吃不来[chi1 bu5 lai2])
a picture of 来 → grain arriving, like something coming to you
来 is a pictograph of a wheat plant — the strokes above 未 originally depicted hanging grain stalks. Wheat was foreign-grown and had to be brought in, so the image of grain drifting in came to mean 'to come.'
Words with 来
二来
èr lái
secondly, ...
来得
lái de
to emerge (from a comparison)
否极泰来
pǐ jí tài lái
extreme sorrow turns to joy (idiom)
比来
bǐ lái
lately
这样一来
zhè yàng yī lái
thus
通俗来讲
tōng sú lái jiǎng
to put it in simple terms, ...
进来
jìn lái
to come in
过来
guò lái
to come over
过来
guò lai
see 過來|过来[guo4 lai2]
过来人
guò lái rén
an experienced person
远来的和尚会念经
yuǎn lái de hé shang huì niàn jīng
the monk coming from afar is good at reading scriptures (idiom)
远方来鸿
yuǎn fāng lái hóng
letter from afar (literary)