Where does “人目を避ける” come from?

人目を避ける (Japanese) comes from Japanese 人目, from Japanese 目, from Middle Chinese 目.

人目を避ける (Japanese): to avoid being seen; to be clandestine

Definitions

  1. to avoid being seen; to be clandestine

Ancestry of “人目を避ける”, step by step

人目を避ける traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 人目

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese人目an attention, observation, public notice
2Japanese目an order in biology: smaller than a class, bigger...
3Middle Chinese目—

via Japanese を

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1JapaneseをA case particle; A conjunctive particle, usually...
2Proto-Japonicwoaccusative marker; away from, off

via Japanese 避ける

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese避けるto avoid
2Japanese避くto avoid, to dodge
Every word from Middle Chinese 目 →Every word from Japanese 目 →Every word from Japanese 人目 →