U+4E8C, 二
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E8C

[U+4E8B]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+4E8D]
U+2F06, ⼆
KANGXI RADICAL TWO

[U+2F05]
Kangxi Radicals
[U+2F07]
U+3221, ㈡
PARENTHESIZED IDEOGRAPH TWO

[U+3220]
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months
[U+3222]
U+3281, ㊁
CIRCLED IDEOGRAPH TWO

[U+3280]
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months
[U+3282]
Commons:Category
Commons:Category
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Translingual

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Stroke order
 
Stroke order
 

Han character

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(Kangxi radical 7, +0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 一一 (MM), four-corner 10100, composition )

  1. Kangxi radical #7, .
  2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №479

Derived characters

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Further reading

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Chinese Wikisource has digitized text of the Kangxi Dictionary entry for :
[[wikisource:zh:康熙字典/二部/二部#二|二部/二部]]

Wikisource


  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 86, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 247
  • Dae Jaweon: page 175, character 6
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 2, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+4E8C

Chinese

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simp. and trad.
alternative forms financial

𠄠

Glyph origin

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Historical forms of the character
Shang Western Zhou Spring and Autumn Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming) Libian (compiled in Qing)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Chu slip and silk script Qin slip script Ancient script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts Clerical 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).

Ideogram (指事) - two parallel strokes. Compare with , one stroke meaning one, , three strokes meaning three, and (), four strokes meaning four. Duplication of (“one”).

Etymology

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From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-ni-s. Cognate to Tibetan གཉིས (gnyis), Sikkimese ཉི (nyi), Tangut 𗍫 (*njɨ̱¹), Burmese နှစ် (hnac), and Nuosu (nyip). See also: (OC *sn̥ʰis, “second; next”), a cognate within Chinese languages.

Pronunciation

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Note: no6 - semantic (substitute for ).
Note:
  • gni, 6n (Deqing) - colloquial;
  • er, 6loe (Chongming), 6gheu (Haining) - literary;
  • lian - alternative, from , chiefly younger speakers in Shanghainese.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (38)
Final () (15)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Baxter nyijH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ȵiɪH/
Pan
Wuyun
/ȵiH/
Shao
Rongfen
/ȵʑjɪH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ȵiH/
Li
Rong
/ȵiH/
Wang
Li
/ȵʑiH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ȵʑiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
èr
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
ji6
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
èr
Middle
Chinese
‹ nyijH ›
Old
Chinese
/*ni[j]-s/
English two

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
Reading # 1/1
No. 2824
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
2
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*njis/

Definitions

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  1. two
    线  ―  èr hào xiàn  ―  line no. 2
  2. second
      ―  èr  ―  second elder brother
  3. secondary, vice-
  4. again, once more
  5. two-fold, double
  6. fold, times
  7. different; other, else
      ―  èr  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)
      ―  èrxīn  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  8. (handwritten, dated, now informal) An iteration mark denoting the repetition of the previous hanzi; often written at a smaller size when used for this purpose.
    Alternative forms: 𠄠 (èr), 𖿣
    Synonyms: ,
  9. Short for "twenty, two hundred or two thousand" after hundreds, thousands and ten thousands.
    Such a definition of a number results from a number's being used without a unit after a quantity with both a value (exists even if hidden) and a unit to indicate the quantity with the value being the number and the unit one grade lower. So does the next definition.
    [Cantonese]  ―  baak3 ji6 [Jyutping]  ―  one hundred twenty
    [Hokkien]  ―  pah [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  one hundred twenty
    電腦 [MSC, trad.]
    电脑 [MSC, simp.]
    Mǎi diànnǎo huā le yī qiān èr. [Pinyin]
    Buying the computer cost me a thousand and two hundred bucks.
  10. Short for "twenty cents".
    黃瓜 [MSC, trad.]
    黄瓜 [MSC, simp.]
    Huángguā yī kuài èr yī jīn. [Pinyin]
    The cucumbers are one dollar twenty per half kilogram.
  11. (dialectal Mandarin) stupid, dumb; silly, thick, lacking mental agility (often in a cute way)
    怎麼這麼 [MSC, trad.]
    怎么这么 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ zhè rén zěnme zhème èr! [Pinyin]
    Why are you so incorrigibly stupid!
  12. (Hong Kong Cantonese, school slang) to obtain a level two in a subject in DSE (exam) (usually implies failing the subject)
    中文唔到U [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]
    ngo5 zung1 man4-2 ji6 zo2, jap6 m4 dou3 ju1. [Jyutping]
    I got a level two in Chinese, can't get into university.
  13. (Classical) Alternative form of (èr); usually limited to the simplified script
      ―  bù'èrguò  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Usage notes

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See 兩 - Usage notes.

Synonyms

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  • (dialectal or used in counting) (liǎng)

See also

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Chinese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102 103 104 106 108 1012
Normal
(小寫小写)
, , , , ,
十千 (Malaysia, Singapore)
百萬百万,
(Philippines),
面桶 (Philippines)
亿 (Taiwan)
萬億万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial
(大寫大写)
Playing cards in Mandarin · 撲克牌扑克牌 (pūkèpái) (layout · text)
             
尖兒尖儿 (jiānr) (èr) (sān) () () (liù) ()
             
() (jiǔ) (shí) 鉤兒钩儿 (gōur) 圈兒圈儿 (quānr), 皮蛋 (pídàn, regional) K 小王 (xiǎowáng, black), 大王 (red),
小鬼 (xiǎoguǐ, black), 大鬼 (dàguǐ, red)

Compounds

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Descendants

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Sino-Xenic ():
  • Japanese: () (ni)
  • Korean: 이(二) (i)
  • Vietnamese: nhị ()

Others:

Japanese

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Kanji

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(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Alternative forms

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  • (financial or formal)

Readings

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Compounds

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Derived terms

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Etymology 1

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (ȵiɪH, two). Compare modern Eastern Min reading .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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() (ni

  1. two, 2
  2. second
    ()()()(もの)一兎(いっと)をも()
    nito o ou mono wa itto o mo ezu
    focus on one thing at a time (literally, “one who chases two rabbits catches neither one”)
    ()(あし)()
    ni no ashi o fumu
    hesitate; think twice (literally, “step on two feet”)
    ()(かい)から()(ぐすり)
    nikai kara megusuri
    trying to do an impossible task (literally, “(taking) eye medicine from the second floor”)

Numeral

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Japanese cardinal numbers
 <  1 2 3  > 
    Cardinal :

() (ni

  1. two, 2

Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term
ふた
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Originally /huta/: *[puta] > [ɸuta]. The ablaut form of (hito2, one), which it doubles.

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *puta. Cognate with Japanese (ふた) (futa).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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(ふた) (futa

  1. two
Coordinate terms
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Japanese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Regular (れい) (rei)
(ゼロ) (zero)
(いち) (ichi) () (ni) (さん) (san) (よん) (yon)
() (shi)
() (go) (ろく) (roku) (なな) (nana)
(しち) (shichi)
(はち) (hachi) (きゅう) (kyū)
() (ku)
(じゅう) ()
Formal (いち) (ichi) () (ni) (さん) (san) (じゅう) ()
90 100 300 600 800 1,000 3,000 8,000 10,000 100,000,000
Regular (きゅう)(じゅう) (kyūjū) (ひゃく) (hyaku)
(いっ)(ぴゃく) (ippyaku)
(さん)(びゃく) (sanbyaku) (ろっ)(ぴゃく) (roppyaku) (はっ)(ぴゃく) (happyaku) (せん) (sen)
(いっ)(せん) (issen)
(さん)(ぜん) (sanzen) (はっ)(せん) (hassen) (いち)(まん) (ichiman) (いち)(おく) (ichioku)
Formal (いち)(まん) (ichiman)
1012 8×1012 1013 1016 6×1016 8×1016 1017 1018
(いっ)(ちょう) (itchō) (はっ)(ちょう) (hatchō) (じゅっ)(ちょう) (jutchō) (いっ)(けい) (ikkei) (ろっ)(けい) (rokkei) (はっ)(けい) (hakkei) (じゅっ)(けい) (jukkei) (ひゃっ)(けい) (hyakkei)

Etymology 3

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Kanji in this term
アル
Grade: 1
tōon

Borrowing from Mandarin (èr).

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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(アル) (aru

  1. two, 2
Coordinate terms
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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

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Etymology

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Korean numbers (edit)
20
 ←  1 2 3  → 
    Native isol.: (dul)
    Native attr.: (du)
    Sino-Korean: (i)
    Hanja:
    Ordinal: 둘째 (duljjae)

From Middle Chinese (MC nyijH).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 ᅀᅵᆼ〮 (Yale: )
Middle Korean
Text Eumhun
Gloss (hun) Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[1] 두〯 (Yale: twǔ) ᅀᅵ〯 (Yale: )
Gwangju Cheonjamun, 1575 (Yale: twu) (Yale: i)

Pronunciation

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  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [i(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

(eumhun (du i))

  1. hanja form? of (two)

Compounds

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References

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  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

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Han character

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: Hán Việt readings: nhị[1][2][3]
: Nôm readings: nhì[1][2][3], nhị[2][3][4], nhẹ[1]

  1. chữ Hán form of nhị (two).
  2. Nôm form of nhì (second).

Compounds

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References

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Zhuang

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Numeral

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  1. Sawndip form of ngeih