Where does “文書” come from?

文書 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 文, from Middle Chinese 文.

文書 (Japanese): a document, a written record; a letter, an...

Definitions

  1. a document, a written record; a letter, an...

Ancestry of “文書”, step by step

文書 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 文

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese文the mon, an old currency; a unit of length for...
2Middle Chinese文—

via Japanese 書

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese書document; letter
2Middle Chinese書—

via Middle Chinese 文書

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Chinese文書—
Every word from Middle Chinese 文 →Every word from Japanese 文 →