See also: and 𠄏
U+4E86, 了
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E86

[U+4E85]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+4E87]
U+F9BA, 了
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9BA

[U+F9B9]
CJK Compatibility Ideographs
[U+F9BB]

TranslingualEdit

Stroke order
 
Stroke order
 

Han characterEdit

(Kangxi radical 6, +1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 弓弓 (NN), four-corner 17207, composition or ⿱)

Derived charactersEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • KangXi: page 85, character 11
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 226
  • Dae Jaweon: page 173, character 20
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 48, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+4E86

ChineseEdit

trad. /*
simp.
瞭 – sense “clear”

Glyph originEdit

Historical forms of the character
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script
 



References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and
  • Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Pictogram (象形) – a baby wrapped in a blanket, with only the head visible. Compare with , where the arms are visible.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Etymology 1Edit

From Proto-Sinitic *leʀ.

Verb “to finish; to be completed” > perfective aspect particle (了₁, weakened form) > change-of-state modal particle (了₂).

Two kinds of particle uses of can be distinguished: the perfective aspect particle after verbs (conventionally written as 了₁) and the sentence-final modal particle (了₂). It is generally accepted (Wu, 1998) that these two uses of are derived from the concrete verb “to finish”. The grammaticalisation of this verb had become common in the Tang Dynasty, initially in the form of ‹verb + (object) + perfective › to indicate the completion of an action.

The perfective particle subsequently underwent further grammaticalisation to become the sentence-final change-of-state modal particle; Liu (1985) has demonstrated that this last step may have involved the coalescence of sentence-final with in certain Mandarin dialects, as the pronunciations of 了₁ and 了₂ are distinct in these dialects, with 了₂ rhyming with .

This word is cognate with Thai แล้ว (lɛ́ɛo, to be finished; already; then, afterwards), Lao ແລ້ວ (lǣu, to finish; to be completed; perfective particle) (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation 1Edit


Note: liǎo - in poetry, songs or Malaysian Mandarin.
DefinitionsEdit

  1. Used after a verb to indicate perfective aspect (action completion).
    蘋果苹果  ―  Wǒ chī le yī ge píngguǒ.  ―  I ate an apple. / I have eaten an apple.
  2. Used at the end of a sentence to indicate a change of state.
    大學生大学生  ―  Tā shì dàxuéshēng le.  ―  He has become a college student / He is a college student now.
  3. Used at the end of a sentence to inform the beginning of an action.
      ―  Wǒ zǒu le.  ―  I'm leaving now.
  4. (contemporary Shanghainese Wu) Used to indicate the present tense.
SynonymsEdit
Usage notesEdit
  • (perfective aspect particle): Most of the time, is translated by a past tense. But it can also indicate that one action is completed before another.
    以後以后  ―  Nǐ chī le yǐhòu jiào wǒ.  ―  Call me when you are done eating.
  • (change of state particle): When used as the change of state particle, can be translated by “now”, “already” or “not anymore”.
    中文中文  ―  Wǒ huì shuō zhōngwén le.  ―  I can speak Chinese now. (I couldn't before.)
    喝醉  ―  Wǒ hēzuì le.  ―  I'm drunk.
    沒有没有  ―  Méiyǒu zhǐ le.  ―  There's no paper anymore.
  • In a question, is put before the particle (ma).
  • (Northern Wu): In Shanghainese, this term is primarily used to indicate the present tense and secondarily the perfective aspect. The present tense sense is derived from Old Shanghainese . For the usage difference between other perfectives, see 脫了#Usage notes.
CompoundsEdit

Pronunciation 2Edit



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (37)
Final () (93)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () IV
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/leuX/
Pan
Wuyun
/leuX/
Shao
Rongfen
/leuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/lɛwX/
Li
Rong
/leuX/
Wang
Li
/lieuX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/lieuX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
liǎo
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
liu5
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 8067
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
2
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*reːwʔ/
DefinitionsEdit

  1. to be finished; to be completed
  2. to end; to finish
  3. to understand; to comprehend
      ―  liǎojiě  ―  to understand; to realize
  4. clear; plain; understandable
  5. bright; intelligent; smart
  6. (in negative sentences) completely; utterly; entirely
  7. Used with () or (de) after verbs to express possibility.
  8. (Hokkien) to use up; to lose; to waste; to squander
SynonymsEdit
CompoundsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

For pronunciation and definitions of – see (“ancient offering involving burning wood; etc.”).
(This character, , is the second-round simplified form of .)
Notes:

Etymology 3Edit

For pronunciation and definitions of – see .
(This character, , is the second-round simplified form of .)
Notes:

JapaneseEdit

KanjiEdit

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

ReadingsEdit

CompoundsEdit

NounEdit

(りょう) (ryō

  1. end
  2. (art works): concluded

Proper nounEdit

(さとる) (Satoru

  1. a male given name

KoreanEdit

HanjaEdit

, eumhun 마칠 (machil ryo), South Korea 마칠 (machil yo)

  1. Hanja form? of / (finish, complete).

VietnameseEdit

Han characterEdit

: Hán Việt readings: liễu (()(điểu)(thiết))[1][2][3], kiết[3]
: Nôm readings: lểu[1][2][4][5], lẽo[1][2][3], liễu[1][2][5], lẻo[1][2], léo[1][4], líu[1][4], lếu[3][4], sáu[1], lèo[1], tréo[2]

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

ReferencesEdit