天
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TranslingualEdit
| Stroke order | |||
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Han characterEdit
天 (radical 37, 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一大 (MK), four-corner 10430, composition ⿱一大)
Derived charactersEdit
- 迗, 𣏿, 祆, 䀖, 䚶, 𠇄, 𠕹, 矢, 关, 吴, 昊, 奏, 癸, 龑(䶮), 𡗶, 吞, 㤁, 昋, 沗, 蚕, 奣, 䨿, 䪞, 鴌, 𠔬, 䵡, 䗞, 䘉
- 𠍴, 㴁, 𣷹, 㵄, 蝅, 蠺
DescendantsEdit
- て (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)
- テ (Katakana character derived from Man'yōgana)
ReferencesEdit
- KangXi: page 248, character 4
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5833
- Dae Jaweon: page 500, character 2
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 522, character 1
- Unihan data for U+5929
ChineseEdit
| simp. and trad. |
天 | |
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| alternative forms | 𠀘 𠀡 兲 𠀑 | |
Glyph originEdit
| Historical forms of the character 天 | |||||
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| Shang | Western Zhou | Warring States | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) | |
| Bronze inscriptions | Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Chu Slip and silk script | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
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A top line representing the level above a man with outstretched arms (大 (dà)). Ancient representations of the character depicted a man with a large head, an anthropomorphic representation of heaven.
Original meaning of the word is “sky”. Such concept is difficult to depict with a pictogram, hence the current form. Perhaps influenced by the glyph, the character was frequently glossed in Old Chinese documents with 顛 (“crown of the head”), and such had led to incorrect hypotheses which regarded 天 (tiān) as a derivation of 顛 or 巔, “top (of the head/hill)”.
EtymologyEdit
This character was previously reconstructed to have a /*tʰ/-initial in Old Chinese, but this hypothesis has been largely discounted in recent reconstructions, in light of evidence from early Chinese accounts of dialectal pronunciations, transcription of other languages, as well as cognate/derived characters within Chinese, which has all pointed to a voiceless resonant initial /*l̥-/ in Old Chinese. The book Shiming showed that, by c. 200 C.E., this initial had already produced dialectal variation in the pronunciation: People in central-western China pronounced it with the back of the tongue, like 顯 (MC henX), while people in eastern China pronounced it with the tip of the tongue, like 坦 (MC tʰɑnX). An old northwestern dialect variant survives as 祆 (MC hen, “God of the Zoroastrians”), and the word 天竺 (MC tʰen ʈɨuk̚, “India”) was used to transcribe Old Persian *Hind-uka ("India").
Further etymology is unknown. While it was reconstructed with a /*tʰ-/ initial, it was frequently compared with tengri, the name for God in early Turkic and Mongolic peoples' languages. This now appears unlikely. The only certain external cognate is the Central Bai (a language closely related to Chinese) word heinl (“sky, heaven”) /xẽ⁵⁵/. Chen (1998) proposes cognation with 祁連 (OC *g'ieg-lian) and 赫連 (OC *khak-lian), transcriptions of a Xiongnu word for "sky", which he also relates to 昊天 (OC *g'ôg-hlin).
PronunciationEdit
DefinitionsEdit
天
- sky; heavens; heavenly; celestial
- (mythology or religion) heaven as the abode of the gods or the blessed departed; heavenly.
- (mythology or religion) Heaven as an impersonal deity, often translated as God.
- top; overhead
- weather; climate
- day (24 hours)
- † day (as opposed to night)
- 白天 ― báitiān ― daytime
- † season
- nature
- natural; innate
SynonymsEdit
CompoundsEdit
See 天/derived terms § Chinese.
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “天”, 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–
JapaneseEdit
KanjiEdit
ReadingsEdit
- Go-on: てん (ten, Jōyō)
- Kan-on: てん (ten, Jōyō)
- Kun: あま (ama, 天, Jōyō †); あめ (ame, 天, Jōyō)
- Nanori: かみ (kami); そら (sora); た (ta); たか (taka); たかし (takashi); なま (nama); て (te); あき (aki); あも (amo)
CompoundsEdit
- 韋駄天 (idaten): Skanda (Buddhism); fast-footed person
- 帝釈天 (Taishakuten): Śakra, lord of the Devas and an important figure in Japanese Buddhism
- 吉祥天 (kitsushōten): Kisshōten
- 天麩羅 (tenpura): tempura
- 任天堂 (Nintendō): Nintendo (gaming company)
- 毘沙門天 (Bishamonten): Vaiśravaṇa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings and an important figure in Japanese Buddhism
Etymology 1Edit
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 天 |
| あま Grade: 1 |
| kun’yomi |
From Old Japanese. A bound form only appearing in compounds.[1][2] Compare the formation of 目 (ma, bound form in compounds) and 目 (me, standalone form), 手 (ta, bound form in compounds) and 手 (te, standalone form).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
- (archaic) the sky, the heavens
- the area above a kitchen stove:
- where the smoke collects in an old kitchen using a wood-burning stove
- a shelf or shelves above the stove
- (archaic) heaven
Derived termsEdit
- 雨 (ame): rain
- 天照 (Amaterasu): “(that which) lights the heavens” → name of the highest standing god in the Shinto pantheon
- 天の川 (ama no gawa), 天の河 (ama no gawa): the Milky Way
- 天下り (amakudari): “descent from heaven” → an avatar of a god visiting earth; a former public official now working in the private sector
Etymology 2Edit
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 天 |
| あめ Grade: 1 |
| kun’yomi |
⟨ame2⟩ → */aməj/ → /ame/
From Old Japanese as a sound shift from ama above.[1] Likely derived by fusion of ama + い (i, emphatic nominative particle), similar to the derivation of other words such as 神 (kami, from kamu + i), 目 (me, from ma + i), etc.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
IdiomsEdit
- 天に跼り地に蹐む (ame ni sekagamari tsuchi ni nukiashinifumu), 天に跼り地に蹐む (ame ni segukumari tsuchi ninukiashinifumu): “in heaven, bow and step carefully on the ground” → to be humble and respectful in heaven
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 3Edit
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 天 |
| てん Grade: 1 |
| on’yomi |
From Middle Chinese 天 (MC tʰen, “sky; heavens”). Compare modern Mandarin reading tiān.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
- the sky, the heavens
- heaven
- (metaphorically) the gods, providence, fate
- 天の与え
- ten no atae
- gift from the gods
- 天の与え
IdiomsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- 天神 (tenjin): a god of heaven, heavenly being
- 天空 (tenkū)
- 天皇 (tennō): emperor (of Japan)
- 天下 (tenka), (rarely) 天下 (tenge)
- 天蓋 (tengai)
- 天気 (tenki): weather
- 天狗 (tengu): long-nosed youkai of Japanese mythology
- 天候 (tenkō): weather
- 天国 (tengoku): heaven
- 天才 (tensai): genius, prodigy
- 天災 (tensai)
- 天災地変 (tensai chihen)
- 天使 (tenshi): heavenly messenger, angel
- 天井 (tenjō): roof, ceiling
- 天職 (tenshoku)
- 天真爛漫 (tenshin ranman)
- 楽天 (rakuten): an optimistic outlook, easygoing-ness
- 楽天家 (rakutenka): an optimist
- 楽天主義 (rakuten shugi): optimism
- 楽天主義者 (rakuten shugisha): an optimist
- 天性 (tensei) inherent nature, disposition
- 天体 (tentai)
- 天頂 (tenchō): a zenith
- 天然 (tennen): natural, innate
- 天秤 (tenbin): a balance, a pair of scales
- 天変地異 (tenpen chii): an extraordinary natural phenomenon or occurrence
- 天文 (tenmon)
- 天文学 (tenmongaku)
- 天文台 (tenmondai)
- 雨天 (uten)
- 弁才天, 辯才天, 弁財天, 辨財天 (benzaiten)
- 天上 (tenjō)
- 天降 (tenkō)
- 天罰 (tenbatsu): divine punishment
- 天地 (tenchi): heaven and earth
- 天神地祇 (tenjin chigi): the gods of heaven and earth
ReferencesEdit
KoreanEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle Chinese 天 (MC tʰen). Recorded as Middle Korean 텬 (Yale: thyen) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.
HanjaEdit
天 (eumhun 하늘 천 (haneul cheon))
SynonymsEdit
AntonymsEdit
CompoundsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]
VietnameseEdit
Han characterEdit
天: Hán Việt readings: thiên[1][2][3]
天: Nôm readings: thiên[1][2][3], thiêng[1]
CompoundsEdit
See 天/derived terms § Vietnamese.