Where does “六十” come from?

六十 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 六, from Late Middle Chinese 六.

六十 (Japanese): sixty; sixty years of age

Definitions

  1. sixty; sixty years of age

Ancestry of “六十”, step by step

六十 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 六

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese六six; a name of a hole of a wind instrument
2Late Middle Chinese六—

via Japanese 十

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese十ten, 10; a ten-year-old
2Middle Chinese十—

via Japanese 路

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese路attaches to place names, indicating a road to...
Every word from Late Middle Chinese 六 →Every word from Japanese 六 →