Where does “一万” come from?

一万 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 一, from Japanese 始め, from Japanese 始める — begin; start; initiate; originate.

Ancestry of “一万”, step by step

一万 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 一

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese一one, 1; "term relating to the number one"; unity
2Japanese始めbeginning, the start of an activity or time...
3Japanese始めるbegin; start; initiate; originate

via Chinese 万

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Chinese万—
2Chinese萬10,000
3Proto-Sino-Tibetans-maŋ—
Every word from Japanese 始める →Every word from Japanese 始め →Every word from Japanese 一 →