荼

See also: 苶 and 茶

荼 U+837C, 荼 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-837C ← 荻 [U+837B] CJK Unified Ideographs 荽 → [U+837D]

Translingual

Han character

荼 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 廿人一木 (TOMD), four-corner 4490₄, composition ⿱艹余)

Derived characters

• 𨝛, 𠻬, 𢴉, 瑹, 𣘻, 𦹍, 䅷, 𭱻, 𮌵, 𨢬, 𮜌, 鷋, 𩻓

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1032, character 21
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31008
• Dae Jaweon: page 1492, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3221, character 11
• Unihan data for U+837C

Chinese

trad.		荼
simp. #		荼

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 荼
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (余) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
斜	*lja, *laː
茶	*rlaː
荼	*rlaː, *ɦlja, *l'aː
梌	*rlaː, *l̥ʰaː, *l'aː
搽	*rlaː
塗	*rlaː, *l'aː
佘	*ɦlja
賒	*hljaː
畬	*hljaː, *la
舍	*hljaːʔ, *hljaːs
捨	*hljaːʔ
騇	*hljaːʔ, *hljaːs
涻	*hljaːs
稌	*l̥ʰaː, *l̥ʰaːʔ
悇	*l̥ʰaː, *l̥ʰas, *las
庩	*l̥ʰaː
捈	*l̥ʰaː, *l'aː
途	*l'aː
酴	*l'aː
駼	*l'aː
鵌	*l'aː, *la
涂	*l'aː, *l'a
嵞	*l'aː
峹	*l'aː
筡	*l'aː, *l̥ʰa
蒤	*l'aː
徐	*lja
俆	*lja
敘	*ljaʔ
漵	*ljaʔ
除	*l'a, *l'as
篨	*rla
滁	*rla
蒢	*rla
蜍	*ɦlja, *la
鵨	*hljaː
瑹	*hlja
余	*la
餘	*la
艅	*la
狳	*la
雓	*la
悆	*las

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rlaː, *ɦlja, *l'aː) : semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 余 (OC *la)

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tú (tu²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄨˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): tou⁴
• Hakka (Meixian, Guangdong): tu²
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): tô͘

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tú
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄨˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tú
    • Wade–Giles: tʻu²
    • Yale: tú
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: twu
    • Palladius: ту (tu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰu³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: tou⁴
    • Yale: tòuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tou⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: tou⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰou̯²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: tu²
    • Sinological IPA: /tʰu¹¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tô͘
    • Tâi-lô: tôo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: doo
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tɔ²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tɔ²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tɔ¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tɔ²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tɔ²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: drae, du, zyae

Rime
Character	荼	荼	荼
Reading #	3/3	1/3	2/3
Initial (聲)	澄 (11)	定 (7)	船 (27)
Final (韻)	麻 (98)	模 (23)	麻 (100)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	II	I	III
Fanqie	宅加切	同都切	食遮切
Baxter	drae	du	zyae
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɖˠa/	/duo/	/ʑia/
Pan Wuyun	/ɖᵚa/	/duo/	/ʑia/
Shao Rongfen	/ȡa/	/do/	/ʑia/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɖaɨ/	/dɔ/	/ʑia/
Li Rong	/ȡa/	/do/	/d͡ʑia/
Wang Li	/ȡa/	/du/	/d͡ʑĭa/
Bernard Karlgren	/ȡʱa/	/dʱuo/	/d͡ʑʰi̯a/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	chá	tú	shé
Expected Cantonese Reflex	caa4	tou4	se4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*lˤra/

  (Zhengzhang): /*rlaː/, /*l'aː/, /*ɦlja/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	荼
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	chá
Middle Chinese	‹ dræ ›
Old Chinese	/*lˁra/
English	(name of a plant)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	荼	荼	荼
Reading #	1/3	3/3	2/3
No.	15748	15776	15761
Phonetic component	余	余	余
Rime group	魚	魚	魚
Rime subdivision	0	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	𡨀	徒	蛇
Old Chinese	/*rlaː/	/*l'aː/	/*ɦlja/

Definitions

荼

1. a type of bitter vegetable, possibly sow thistle or other plants of Asteraceae
2. (figurative) pain; suffering
3. spikes of cogon (or other grasses) with long whitish hair

   如火如荼  ―  rúhuǒrútú  ―  (red) like fire, (white) like cogon spikes

4. pappus
   • 1803, 程瑤田, 釋草小記:

     芺、薊者……荼卽其華之實所戴者。

     Thistle... The pappus is what its flower's fruit wears.

5. white

   荼首  ―  túshǒu  ―  hoary head

Usage notes

• 荼 can refer to one of several types of bitter tasting vegetables. Early Chinese texts are rather vague in their description, which makes it difficult to determine which species it originally referred to.

Compounds

• 含荼
• 如火如荼 (rúhuǒrútú)
• 如荼如火
• 旃荼羅／旃荼罗 (zhāntúluó)
• 曼荼羅／曼荼罗 (màntúluó)
• 秋荼
• 苦荼 (kǔtú)
• 茹荼
• 荼毒 (túdú)
• 荼毒生靈／荼毒生灵
• 荼毗 (túpí)
• 荼炭
• 荼蓼
• 荼蘼 (túmí)
• 荼首
• 鳩槃荼／鸠槃荼 (jiūpántú)

 

Pronunciation 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 荼 – see 茶 (“tea; tea; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 茶).

Pronunciation 3

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yé (ye²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄝˊ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yé
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄝˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yé
    • Wade–Giles: yeh²
    • Yale: yé
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ye
    • Palladius: е (je)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛ³⁵/

Definitions

荼

1. a surname

Pronunciation 4

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shū (shu¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄨ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): syu¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shū
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shu
    • Wade–Giles: shu¹
    • Yale: shū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shu
    • Palladius: шу (šu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂu⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: syu¹
    • Yale: syū
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sy¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: xu¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /syː⁵⁵/

Definitions

荼

1. Only used in 神荼 (Shēnshū).

Compounds

• 神荼
• 神荼鬱壘／神荼郁垒
• 鬱壘神荼／郁垒神荼

 

Pronunciation 5

For pronunciation and definitions of 荼 – see 舒 (“to open up; to unfold; to stretch out; to relax; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 舒).

References

• “荼”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

荼

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. Ixeridium dentatum
2. kanji used to transliterate Buddhist terms borrowed from Sanskrit

Readings

• Go-on: じゃ (ja)^{←ぢや (dya, historical)}、ど (do)
• Kan-on: た (ta)、と (to)
• Kan’yō-on: だ (da)
• Kun: にがな (nigana, 荼)

Compounds

Compounds

• 荼枳尼天(だきにてん), 荼吉尼天(だきにてん) (Dakiniten), 荼枳尼(だきに), 荼吉尼(だきに) (Dakini)
• 荼毘(だび), 荼毗(だび) (dabi)
• 荼(と)毒(どく) (todoku)
• 鳩槃荼(くはんだ) (Kuhanda)
• 軍荼利(ぐんだり)明王(みょうおう) (Gundari Myōō), 軍荼利(ぐんだり) (Gundari)
• 分荼離迦(ふんだりか) (fundarika)
• 曼荼羅(まんだら) (mandara)

Vietnamese

Han character

荼: Hán Nôm readings: đồ, dưa, giưa

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