本字

Chinese

		roots or stems of plants; origin; source roots or stems of plants; origin; source; this; the current; root; foundation; basis; (a measure word)	letter; symbol; character letter; symbol; character; word
simp. and trad. (本字)		本	字

Examples
Cantonese 錫 (sek3, “to cherish; to kiss”): 惜 Hakka 㧡 (khâi, “to carry on a shoulder pole”): 荷 Mandarin 這／这 (zhè, “this”): perhaps 者 or 之 Hokkien 人 (lâng, “person”): 儂 / 農 Teochew 夜 (mên5, “night”): 暝

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): běnzì

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄣˇ ㄗˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bun² zi⁶
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): pún-sṳ

  (Meixian, Guangdong): bun³ si⁴

• Northern Min (KCR): bǒ̤ng-cī
• Eastern Min (BUC): buōng-cê
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): pún-jī / pún-lī
• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁵pen-zy

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: běnzì
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄣˇ ㄗˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: běnzìh
    • Wade–Giles: pên³-tzŭ⁴
    • Yale: běn-dz̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: beentzyh
    • Palladius: бэньцзы (bɛnʹczy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pən²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡sz̩⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bun² zi⁶
    • Yale: bún jih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bun² dzi⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: bun² ji⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /puːn³⁵ t͡siː²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: pún-sṳ
    • Hakka Romanization System: bun` sii
    • Hagfa Pinyim: bun³ si⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /pun³¹ sɨ⁵⁵/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: bun³ si⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /pun³¹ sz̩⁵³/
• Northern Min
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: bǒ̤ng-cī
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pɔŋ²¹ t͡si⁵⁵/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: buōng-cê
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /puoŋ³³⁻⁵⁵ ^(t͡s-)ʒɛi²⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Kaohsiung)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pún-jī
    • Tâi-lô: pún-jī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: pwnji
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /pun⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ zi³³/
  • (Hokkien: Taipei)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pún-lī
    • Tâi-lô: pún-lī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: pwnli
    • IPA (Taipei): /pun⁵³⁻⁴⁴ li³³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁵pen-zy
    • MiniDict: pen^去 zy
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²pen-zr
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /pən³³ zz̩⁴⁴/

Noun

本字

1. original character; etymological character

Usage notes

• This term is commonly used for Chinese topolects, in which morphemes may be written with etymologically inappropriate characters or missing a character entirely. With the hypothesis that they are identifiable as pre-existing characters, researchers strive to identify the ancestral "etymological character" from classical character dictionaries.

Synonyms

• 正文 (zhèngwén)

See also

• 訓讀／训读 (xùndú)