chinese_ethymology.rb

# Given a chinese character, fetch its ethymology through http://www.internationalscientific.org/
#

require 'rubygems'
require 'open-uri'
require 'hpricot'
require 'cgi'

def get_ethymology(chinese)
  doc = Hpricot(open("http://www.internationalscientific.org/CharacterASP/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=#{  CGI.escape(chinese) }"))
  return doc.search("#charEty").inner_html
end

puts get_ethymology("携")

# here you go. Thanks Richard Sears for his great chinese ethymology website.