See also: , , , , , , , and

U+5B50, 子
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5B50

[U+5B4F]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+5B51]
U+2F26, ⼦
KANGXI RADICAL CHILD

[U+2F25]
Kangxi Radicals
[U+2F27]
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 39, +0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 弓木 (ND), four-corner 17407, composition )

  1. Kangxi radical #39, .

Derived characters

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References

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  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 277, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6930
  • Dae Jaweon: page 543, character 15
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1006, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+5B50

Further reading

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Chinese

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simp. and trad.
alternative forms

Glyph origin

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

Pictogram (象形) – an image of a baby, with a large head and spread arms. The legs are wrapped in a blanket. Compare with , where the arms are wrapped, and , in which a lock of hair is visible on top. Compare also and , in which the image of the baby is reversed upside-down.

The big seal script form is much more elaborate, showing a baby with hair on a head () and arms on the two sides of the body, sitting on a stool ().

See also the right component of .

Etymology

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child
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za (child, offspring, relatives; to come forth (as child at birth); to love; loving).
Cognate with (OC *zlɯs, “character; letter”), (OC *zɯ, “loving; kind”), (OC *ʔsɯ, “to grow, to breed, to propagate, to bring about, to increase”), (OC *ʔsɯ, *zɯs, “to breed, to propagate”).
first earthly branch
In oracle bone and Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, was the sixth earthly branch; the first earthly branch was denoted differently. One of the forms survived in Shuo Wen (𢀇) (Matsumaru, 2015).
Smith (2011) proposed this character is . Observing that is closely linked with "dark, stained", "murky (water)", "field cleared by burning" (all pronounced *tsrə), Smith (2011) proposes that initially the first earthly branch (OC *ts[r]əʔ) denoted the new moon phase and meant "darkened, voided, the darkened stage". Additionally, Smith (2011) proposes that (OC tsəʔ), which originated from a Sino-Tibetan root meaning "to come forth", denoted the moon's "coming forth" stage (i.e. early waning-gibbous phase).
Sometime in Warring States period, a change occured that became the first earthly branch and (OC *s-ləʔ) filled the void of the sixth earthly branch (Matsumaru, 2015), "due to phonological closeness (combined with the semantic opacity of the Branch terms at later eras)" (Smith, 2011).
Association with the rat was possibly arbitrary, analogous to how , the fifth earthly branch, was arbitrarily associated with the dragon (Ferlus, 2013).

Pronunciation 1

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Note: cī - “seed”.
Note:
  • zo3 - literary;
  • zo3 - colloquial.
Note:
  • chú/chír - literary;
  • chí - colloquial (“seed; egg”).
Note:
  • ze2/zu2 - literary (zu2 - Chaoyang);
  • zi2 - colloquial.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (13)
Final () (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Baxter tsiX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/t͡sɨX/
Pan
Wuyun
/t͡sɨX/
Shao
Rongfen
/t͡sieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/t͡sɨX/
Li
Rong
/t͡siəX/
Wang
Li
/t͡sĭəX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/t͡siX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
zi2
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ tsiX › ‹ tsiX ›
Old
Chinese
/*[ts]əʔ/ /*tsəʔ/
English 1st earthly branch child; gentleman, master

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. 17857
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ʔslɯʔ/

Definitions

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  1. (literary) child; offspring
  2. son
    獨生独生  ―  dúshēng  ―  only son
      ―  ài  ―  beloved son
      ―  yī nǚ  ―  one son and one daughter
  3. (literary) descendant; posterity
  4. (Christianity) the Son
  5. (in compounds) person
      ―    ―  female; woman
  6. (literary) master; teacher
  7. (literary) A respectful title for teachers, usually attached after their surnames.
      ―  Kǒng  ―  Master Kong (Confucius)
      ―  Lǎo  ―  Laozi
  8. (literary, polite) you
  9. Alternative form of (, seed); also its second-round simplified form.
    葵花  ―  kuíhuāzǐ  ―  sunflower seed
  10. egg
      ―    ―  caviar
  11. young; tender; small
  12. Prefix attached to nouns, denoting "a part of", "belonging to" or "individual". sub-
    目錄目录  ―  zǐmùlù  ―  subdirectory
  13. (astrology) First earthly branch: rat in the Chinese zodiac, 11th solar month, midnight (11:00 pm to 1:00 am)
  14. (historical) viscount (fourth of five ranks of Chinese aristocracy under the Zhou dynasty)
  15. (physics, biology) -on
  16. a surname
  17. (Southern Min) grain-like object; particle; granule
  18. (Southern Min, music) rhythm
  19. (Southern Min) Classifier for small, round objects: granule, grain, particle, piece
Synonyms
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Coordinate terms
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Compounds

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Pronunciation 2

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Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (13)
Final () (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Baxter tsiX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/t͡sɨX/
Pan
Wuyun
/t͡sɨX/
Shao
Rongfen
/t͡sieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/t͡sɨX/
Li
Rong
/t͡siəX/
Wang
Li
/t͡sĭəX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/t͡siX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
zi2
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ tsiX › ‹ tsiX ›
Old
Chinese
/*[ts]əʔ/ /*tsəʔ/
English 1st earthly branch child; gentleman, master

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. 17857
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ʔslɯʔ/

Definitions

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  1. Suffix:
    1. Used to nominalize.
        ―  píngzi  ―  bottle
        ―  shuāzi  ―  brush
        ―  pàngzi  ―  fat person
    2. (colloquial) Used in some classifiers.
      一下  ―  yīxiàzi  ―  all of a sudden
Synonyms
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Compounds

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Pronunciation 3

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Note: vernacular.
Note: vernacular.

Definitions

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(Hokkien)

  1. small, round object
    算盤算盘 [Hokkien]  ―  sǹg-pôaⁿ- [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  abacus bead
  2. (Xiamen and Quanzhou Hokkien) Classifier for small objects.
  3. (Zhangzhou and Taiwanese Hokkien) Classifier for bananas.

Descendants

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Sino-Xenic ():
  • Japanese: () (shi); () (su)
  • Korean: 자(子) (ja)
  • Vietnamese: tử ()

Others:

  • Vietnamese: (a little bit)

Japanese

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Kanji

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(First grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. (gender-neutral) child
  2. (archaic) honorific for an adult man
  3. (archaic) honorific for a learned man, master
  4. (archaic) man (in general)
  5. (historical) fourth rank of nobility in Meiji-postwar Japan, viscount
  6. egg, fruit, seed
  7. small object
  8. interest
  9. diminutive suffix
  10. Rat (earthly branch)
  11. midnight
  12. north
  • (midnight, north): Antonyms :

Readings

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Compounds

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Usage notes

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Not to be confused with the visually similar  , an obsolete variant form (変体仮名) of the katakana (ne) not encoded in Unicode.

Etymology 1

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
(uncommon)
(female)

⟨ko1 → */kʷo//ko/

From Old Japanese,[1] attested in the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE), two of the oldest examples of written Japanese.

Cognate with (ko, silkworm) and possibly (ko, little, diminutive prefix).

Possibly cognate with Goguryeo (*gu), which appears in an ancient place name with an apparent meaning of child.[2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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() (ko (counter )

  1. a child
    うち()すみません
    Uchi no ko ga sumimasen.
    I'm terribly sorry for my child's conduct.
    (otoko no ko): male childboy
    いい (ii ko): good boy; good girl
  2. (figuratively) a girl, especially a dear or desired one (compare use of English baby, babe)
    あの()(だれ)
    Ano ko wa dare?
    Who's that chick?
    • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 7, poem 1266:
      , text here
      大舟(おほぶね)()荒海(あるみ)()(こぎ)()()船多(ふね)(たけ)(わが)見之(みし)()等之(らが)目見者(まみは)(しる)之母(しも) [Man'yōgana]
      大船(おほぶね)荒海(あるみ)()()(ふね)たけ()()()らがまみはしるしも [Modern spelling]
      ōbune o arumi ni kogi de ya fune take waga mishi kora ga mami wa shirushi mo
      Rowing the big boat into the rough seas, putting our backs into it, the looks of those girls I saw are clear [in my mind]
  3. (endearing) creature
    この()は「ミシシッピアカミミガメ」と()います。
    Kono ko wa “Mishishippi akamimigame” to iimasu.
    This little guy is called a "red-eared slider".
    この()()ます。
    Kono ko wa kamimasu.
    This little fella might bite.
  4. a smaller or younger version of a bigger object
    (ki no ko): tree + child/little one (kinoko, mushroom)
    (take no ko): bamboo + child/little one (takenoko, bamboo shoot)
  5. (hanafuda, card games, by extension, board games, gambling) person who is dealt cards
    Coordinate term: (oya)
Derived terms
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Prefix

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() (ko-

  1. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
    会社 (kogaisha): derivative + company → a subsidiary
    (koinu): derivative + dog → a puppy
Derived terms
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Suffix

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() (-ko

  1. suffix used in female given names, such as 智子 (​Tomoko), 英子 (​Eiko), 秀子 (​Hideko), 美奈子 (​Minako), 有希子 (​Yukiko)
  2. (rare) suffix used in male given names
  3. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
    (furiko): an object that swings → a pendulum
  4. roe (only when preceded by a fish name, or fish-related prefix)
    明太 (mentaiko, pollock roe)
    (tobiko, flying fish roe)
Derived terms
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Proper noun

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() (Ko

  1. a surname

Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
on'yomi
Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (MC tsiX), also used in the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE) as 借音 (shakuon) kana for ⟨si⟩. Compare modern Mandarin ().

The goon reading of shi is likely the original borrowing:

/t͡sɨ//sɨ/ → */ɕɨ//ɕi/

The tōon reading su appears later, and only shows up in certain set terms borrowed from Chinese, where it seems to serve as a kind of nominalizing suffix:

/t͡sɨ//sɨ/ → */sʉ//su/

Pronunciation

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Affix

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() or () or (su) or (shi) (shi or su

  1. a child
  2. Short for 子爵 (shishaku): the fourth rank of nobility in Meiji-postwar Japan, equivalent to a viscount
  3. an honorific for a learned man, such as teacher or master
  4. a philosophy branch of Chinese literature, either derived from or outside of the Hundred Schools of Thought
  5. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
  6. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
    中性 (chūseishi): neutral + small thing → a neutron
    (isu): chair + small thing → a chair
Usage notes
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  • This affix is never used in isolation. It is only used in on'yomi compounds.
  • In some kanji compounds, is part of the word but does not carry much meaning in Japanese, as in 椅子 (isu, chair). Possibly because of this erosion of meaning, spelling out in some compounds has become optional, as in 椰子 vs. (yashi, a palm tree), or 柚子 vs. (yuzu, an aromatic citron).
  • In some compounds, the shi or su reading becomes voiced as ji or zu due to rendaku.
Derived terms
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Pronoun

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() (shi

  1. (archaic) second-person pronoun: you (of one's equals)

Proper noun

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() (Shi

  1. (Chinese astrology) Rat, the first of the twelve Earthly Branches
    Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支
    Coordinate terms: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Etymology 3

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Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Contracted from (nezumi, mouse, rat).

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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() (Ne

  1. (Chinese astrology) Rat, the first of the twelve Earthly Branches:
    Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支
    Coordinate terms: , , , , , , , , , , ,
    1. north
      Synonym: (kita)
    2. the hours between 11:00 P.M./midnight and 1:00/2:00 A.M.
    3. a day or year assigned to the Rat
    4. the eleventh month of the lunar calendar
  2. a place name
Derived terms
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Syllable

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Variant of katakana (ne)

() (ne

  1. (obsolete) variant katakana syllable (ne) [until the 19th century]
    • Udagawa Yōan, 遠西医方名物考, vol. 4, 1822
      剥篤(ポット)亞斯(アス) 「シレス、カラーヘルラチ」
      […] 是ヲ燒ク法、曠野ニ一大坑ヲ穿チ其底ト内圍ニ(アマ)ク瓦磗ヲ(シキ)、樹ノ幹枝𪜈ニ(キリ)テ其内ニ積ミ(モヤ)(オハリ)テ煙消シ通紅トナルトキ尋常()灰汁(アク)ヲ取テ少シ(ツヽ)頻〻ニ(マキチラ)ストキハ其灰ノ鹽氣凝結𬼀堅キ塊片トナル。
    • 第1回国会参法一覧
      小杉イ議員

Etymology 4

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of – see the following entry.
3
[noun] fruit (a product of fertilization in a plant)
[noun] seed
[noun] ingredients of soup (meat or vegetables)
[noun] (figurative) contents; substance; essence
[noun] (figurative) good result (Can we verify(+) this sense?)
(This term, , is an alternative spelling (archaic, rare) of the above term.)

References

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  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ John R. Bentley (2008) “The Search for the Language of Yamatai”, in Japanese Language and Literature[1], volume 42, number 1, page 17:
    This etymology is indirectly supported by evidence from the Koguryo onomastic data: ‘child peak’ is preserved as 仇斯波衣, where 仇 *gu is ‘child’. Thus, the peninsular word is likely *ku, and a plural suffix -ra was later attached. This may have been reinterpreted later as singular ‘child’, much as modern Japanese ko-domo ‘child-plural’ is used as a singular with ko-domo-tati ‘child-plural-plural’ as the plural.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

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Etymology

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From Middle Chinese (MC tsiX). Recorded as Middle Korean ᄌᆞ〮 () (Yale: ) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

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Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

(eumhun 아들 (adeul ja))

  1. Hanja form? of (son; man).
  2. Hanja form? of (offspring).
  3. Hanja form? of (a noun suffix).

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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chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Han character

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: Hán Việt readings: ((tức)()(thiết))[1][2], tử[2][3], [3]
: Nôm readings: [1][2], tử[2][4], [1], tít[2], tở[3]

  1. chữ Hán form of (first of the twelve earthly branches).
    Hypernyms: 地支, 十二支
    Coordinate terms: , , , , , , , , , , ,
  2. Nôm form of (a little bit; small).
  3. chữ Hán form of tử (child; son; small thing).
    • 1873, Bích Câu Kỳ Ngộ, lines 17–18:
      朝黎當會太和,固陳公𠸛羅秀渊。
      Triều Lê đương hội thái hòa, Có Trần công tử tên là Tú Uyên.
      In the Lê court's festival of Great Peace, there exists a noble lord named Tran Tu Uyen.

Compounds

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tử

References

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