士

See also 土, and ±

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Phonosemantic interpretation

Old Chinese Initial /*s-/ lends semantic value Small/Thin/Slender. Pictogram (象形) of an erect object (compare the graphically similar and phonetically close 土). Present-day meanings are via association and extension, the connection being "stand erect." Source: Howell & Morimoto

Etymology

Also simplified from 止, as in 志.

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

士 (radical 33 士+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 十一 (JM), four-corner 4010₀, composition ⿱十一)

1. scholar, gentleman
2. soldier, non-commissioned officer
3. A certain Chinese chess (xiangqi) piece

References

• KangXi: page 242, character 38
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5638
• Dae Jaweon: page 482, character 38
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 416, character 1
• Unihan data for U+58EB

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Cantonese

Hanzi

士 (Yale si6)

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Hakka

Hanzi

士 (POJ sṳ, Guangdong se⁵ [Meixian], sii⁶ [Hailu], sii⁵ [Kwangtung, Siyan], su³ [Bao'an, Dongguan], Hagfa Pinyim si4)

References

• CCDICT (Chineselanguage.org)
• Academia Sinica - Hakka-English Dictionary
• Lau, Chun-fat. Hakka Pinyin Dictionary (Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997 (Chinese IME supplement) ISBN 962-201-750-9.

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Japanese

Kanji

士 (grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. gentleman
2. samurai

Readings

• On: し (shi), じ (ji)
• Kun: さむらい (samurai), つかさ (tsukasa)

Compounds

• (samurai):
  • 武士 (bushi, “samurai”)
  • 戦士 (せんし, senshi, “soldier, warrior”)
  • 騎士 (きし, kishi): knight
• (person who has a good social background):
  • 会計士 (かいけいし, kaikei-shi)
  • 博士 (hakase, “doctor (degree)”)
    • 博士論文 (hakase ronbun, “doctoral thesis”)

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Korean

Hanja

士 (hangeul 사, revised sa, McCune-Reischauer sa)

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Mandarin

Hanzi

士 (pinyin shì (shi4), Wade-Giles shih⁴)

Compounds

• 戰士
• 战士
• 爵士
• 修士
• 武士
• 將士
• 名士
• 居士

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Middle Chinese

Han character

士 (*jrhiə̌)

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Vietnamese

Han character

士 (sĩ, sãi, sõi, sỡi)