See also: , , and
U+5B57, 字
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5B57

[U+5B56]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+5B58]
🈑 U+1F211, 🈑
SQUARED CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5B57
🈐
[U+1F210]
Enclosed Ideographic Supplement 🈒
[U+1F212]

TranslingualEdit

Stroke order
 
Stroke order
 

Han characterEdit

(Kangxi radical 39, +3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十弓木 (JND), four-corner 30407, composition)

Derived charactersEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • KangXi: page 277, character 18
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6942
  • Dae Jaweon: page 545, character 7
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1010, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+5B57

ChineseEdit

simp. and trad.

Glyph originEdit

Historical forms of the character
Shang Western Zhou Spring and Autumn Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Qin slip script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
           

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *zlɯs): semantic (roof) + phonetic (OC *ʔslɯʔ, child).

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za (child; to give birth; to take care; to be kind). Related to:

  • (OC *ʔslɯʔ, “child, son”) (also its phonetic component)
  • (OC *zɯ, “to be kind, loving”)
  • (OC *ʔsɯ, “to nourish, to grow”)
  • (OC *ljɯ, “word, term”)
  • (OC *ljɯ, “word, from testimony”)

Original sense (1): “to become pregnant, to give birth to, to nurture, to love” has essentially become obsolete. The sense (2) “letter, character” is either from a different root or a derivation from the sense “to produce, to generate”.

Cognate with Tibetan ཚ་བོ (tsha bo, nephew), Tibetan ཚ་རུས (tsha rus, descendant), Tibetan བཙའ (btsa', to give birth to; to guard), Tibetan མཛའ (mdza', kind, peaceful, friendly) (Quan, 1996), Burmese စာ (ca, writing, letter).

PronunciationEdit


Note:
  • lī/jī/lǐ/gī - vernacular;
  • chū/chīr/chī/jū - literary.
Note: re6 - Chinese-style name, “to be allow to marry”.

  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /t͡sz̩⁵¹/
Harbin /t͡sz̩⁵³/
Tianjin /ye⁵³/
Jinan /t͡sz̩²¹/
Qingdao /t͡sz̩⁴²/
Zhengzhou /t͡sz̩³¹²/
Xi'an /t͡sz̩⁴⁴/
Xining /t͡sz̩²¹³/
Yinchuan /t͡sz̩¹³/
Lanzhou /t͡sz̩¹³/
Ürümqi /t͡sz̩²¹³/
Wuhan /t͡sz̩³⁵/
Chengdu /t͡sz̩¹³/
Guiyang /t͡sz̩²¹³/
Kunming /t͡sz̩²¹²/
Nanjing /t͡sz̩⁴⁴/
Hefei /t͡sz̩⁵³/
Jin Taiyuan /t͡sz̩⁴⁵/
Pingyao /t͡sz̩³⁵/
Hohhot /t͡sz̩⁵⁵/
Wu Shanghai /zz̩²³/
Suzhou /zz̩³¹/
Hangzhou /zz̩¹³/
Wenzhou /zz̩²²/
Hui Shexian /t͡sʰz̩²²/
Tunxi /t͡sʰz̩¹¹/
Xiang Changsha /t͡sz̩⁵⁵/
/t͡sz̩¹¹/
Xiangtan /d͡zz̩²¹/
Gan Nanchang /t͡sʰz̩²¹/
Hakka Meixian /sz̩⁵³/
Taoyuan /sï⁵⁵/
Cantonese Guangzhou /t͡si²²/
Nanning /t͡sz̩²²/
Hong Kong /t͡si²²/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /t͡su²²/
/li²²/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /t͡sɛi²⁴²/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /t͡si⁴⁴/
Shantou (Min Nan) /zi³¹/
Haikou (Min Nan) /t͡si³³/
/tu²³/ 訓書

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (15)
Final () (19)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/d͡zɨH/
Pan
Wuyun
/d͡zɨH/
Shao
Rongfen
/d͡zieH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/d͡zɨH/
Li
Rong
/d͡ziəH/
Wang
Li
/d͡zĭəH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/d͡zʱiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
zi6
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ dziH ›
Old
Chinese
/*mə-dzə(ʔ)-s/
English breed, love (v.); character

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. 17864
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*zlɯs/
Notes

DefinitionsEdit

  1. letter; symbol; character, especially a Chinese character (Classifier: m c;  c)
    這個怎麼这个怎么  ―  Zhège zěnme niàn?  ―  How do you read this character?
      ―    ―  letter
      ―  chuàn  ―  character string
  2. word; term; wording; diction
      ―  Zhè pīn cuò le.  ―  This word is wrongly spelt; you've left out a letter.
  3. (computing) word
  4. handwriting; writing
      ―  Tā de hěn chà.  ―  His handwriting is very bad.
  5. (historical) courtesy name; Chinese-style name (a name traditionally given to Chinese males at the age of 20 and females at the age of 15)
  6. (historical) to style; to give someone a courtesy name
  7. (calligraphy) style of handwriting; printing type
  8. (calligraphy) (a calligrapher's) calligraphy work
  9. written letter; message; correspondence
  10. receipt; contract; slip
  11. pronunciation of a character; pronunciation
  12. (colloquial) side of a coin with written characters; tails
    Antonym: (màn)
  13. (Cantonese, Min, Malaysia, Singapore) five minutes (derived from the locations of 1 to 12 on a clock face) (Classifier: m c)
    [Cantonese]  ―  saam1 go3 zi6 [Jyutping]  ―  fifteen minutes [i.e. when the minute hand points to 3]
    [Hokkien]  ―  chhit tiám nn̄g [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  ten past seven
    [Teochew]  ―  zêg8 gai5 ri7 [Peng'im]  ―  five minutes [i.e. when the minute hand points to 1]
    而家十一 [Guangzhou Cantonese, trad.]
    而家十一 [Guangzhou Cantonese, simp.]
    ji4 gaa1 hai6 jat1 dim2 sap6 jat1 go3 zi6. [Jyutping]
    It's five to two now. (Literally: It's one o'clock [and] eleven five-minutes.)
    [Guangzhou Cantonese, trad.]
    [Guangzhou Cantonese, simp.]
    zaang1 saam1 go3 zi6 dou3 luk6 dim2 [Jyutping]
    a quarter to six (Literally: Missing three five-minutes to six o'clock)
  14. to give birth to; to deliver a baby; to bring into the world
  15. to be pregnant; to be carrying a baby
  16. (historical, of a girl) to be betrothed; to be allowed to marry
    閨中闺中  ―  dàiguīzhōng  ―  to stay in the boudoir waiting to be betrothed
  17. to bring up; to raise; to rear (a child)
  18. (obsolete or Guzhang Waxiang) to love; to cherish; to care very much for
  19. (Luxi Waxiang) to envy; to be jealous of; to admire
  20. to educate; to teach; to instruct
  21. to govern; to administer
  22. a surname

SynonymsEdit

CompoundsEdit

DescendantsEdit

Sino-Xenic ():
  • Japanese: () (ji)
  • Korean: 자(字) (ja)
  • Vietnamese: tự ()

Others:

  • Proto-Tai: *ɟɤ:ᴮ (name)
  • Vietnamese: chữ (script; letter; writing; word), chửa (to be pregnant)

ReferencesEdit

JapaneseEdit

KanjiEdit

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

ReadingsEdit

Etymology 1Edit

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
on’yomi

Borrowed from Middle Chinese with the southern pronunciation (kango, go-on).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

() (ji

  1. letter, character
    この()(なん)()ますか?
    Kono ji wa nan to yomimasu ka?
    How do you pronounce this character?
  2. handwriting, penmanship
    (かの)(じょ)()上手(うま)(きたな))。
    Kanojo wa ji ga umai (kitanai).
    She has good (bad) handwriting.
Derived termsEdit

CounterEdit

() (-ji

  1. letters, characters
    40(よんじゅう)()()(ない)()てください。
    Yonjū-ji inai de kaite kudasai.
    Please write it down in 40 characters or fewer.

Etymology 2Edit

Kanji in this term
あざ
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Shortened form of あざな (azana, a section of a village) of ancient Japanese origin (wago).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

(あざ) (aza

  1. a section of a village
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Kanji in this term
あざな
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Of ancient Japanese origin (wago).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

(あざな) (azana

  1. courtesy name
    たく(ぐん)河北(かほく)(しょう))の(ひと)(あざな)玄徳(げんとく)[2]
    Taku-gun (Kahoku-shō) no hito. Azana wa Gentoku.
    Of Zhuo Commandery. Courtesy name Xuande.
  2. nickname
  3. a section of a village

ReferencesEdit

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN

KoreanEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle Chinese (MC d͡zɨH).

Historical readings

PronunciationEdit

HanjaEdit

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

(eumhun 글자 (geulja ja))

  1. Hanja form? of (letter; character).

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. [3]

VietnameseEdit

Han characterEdit

: Hán Nôm readings: tự, chữ

  1. character, letter
  2. word

CompoundsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển, Hà Nội, 1942
  • Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
  • Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999