子

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[edit] Translingual

Stroke order
子-order.gif

[edit] Etymology

Pictogram (象形) – an image of a baby, with a large head and spread arms. Compare 呆, of same origin.

子 子 子 子
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script

[edit] Han character

子 (radical 39 子+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 弓木 (ND), four-corner 17407, composition ⿻了一))

  1. offspring, child, son, daughter, Being.
  2. fruit, seed of
  3. first of twelve earth branches (十二支): rat or mouse (鼠) of Chinese zodiac
  4. master, e.g. Kongzi and Laozi meaning "Master Kong" and "Master Lao"
  5. a suffix indicating that the term to which it is attached is a noun

[edit] Derived characters

[edit] Related characters

[edit] References

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

[edit] Cantonese

[edit] Hanzi

子 (jyutping zi2, Yale ji2)

[edit] Hmong

[edit] Hanzi

子

  1. a suffix indicating that the term to which it is attached is a noun

[edit] Japanese

[edit] Kanji

子 (grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

[edit] Readings

[edit] Compounds

Some compounds using 子

[edit] Names

  • suffix used by female given names, such as 智子(ともこ, Tomoko), 英子(えいこ, Eiko; ひでこ, Hideko), 美奈子(みなこ, Minako).
  • (rare) suffix used by male given names.

[edit] Noun

子 (hiragana こ, romaji ko)

  1. A child.
  2. A smaller or younger version of a bigger object.

[edit] Prefix

子 (hiragana こ, romaji ko)

  1. An object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object

[edit] Suffix

子 (hiragana こ, romaji ko)

Used only in kun'yomi compounds.

  1. An object of a particular state or property.
  2. Roe (only when preceded by a fish, or fish-related prefix).

子 (hiragana し, romaji shi)

子 (hiragana す, romaji su)

Used only in on'yomi compounds.

  1. An object, generally small, having a particular state or property.

[edit] Usage notes

In some kanji compounds, 子 is part of the word but does not carry much meaning, as in 椅子. Possibly because of this erosion of meaning, 子 used in some compounds has become optional, as in 椰子/椰 (yashi, “a palm tree”) and 柚子/柚 (yuzu, “yuzu, an aromatic citron”). Also note that the shi or su reading will become voiced in some compounds as ji or zu due to rendaku (連濁).

[edit] Korean

[edit] Hanja

子
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 자 (revised: ja, McCune-Reischauer: cha)

[edit] Mandarin

simpl. and trad.
子

[edit] Hanzi

子 (pinyin zǐ (zi3), zi (zi), Wade-Giles tzu3, tzu)

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

子 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin zǐ)

  1. (literary) son; child
  2. (literary) person
  3. (astrology) rat
  4. (literary) master
    孔子
    Master Kong (Confucius)

[edit] Prefix

子 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin zǐ)

  1. young; tender; small
  2. sub-
    trad. 子目錄, simpl. 子目录
    subdirectory

[edit] Suffix

子 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin zi)

  1. (Intermediate Mandarin) a suffix for a small objects
  2. (Intermediate Mandarin) a suffix for single-syllable nouns

[edit] Suffix

子 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin zǐ)

  1. seed
  2. egg

[edit] Pronoun

子 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin zǐ)

  1. (literary) you

[edit] Compounds

[edit] References

  • "子" (in Mandarin/English). Pleco Dictionary. URL accessed on 2011-01-29.
  • "子" (in Mandarin). Guoyu Cidian On-line Mandarin Dictionary (國語辭典). URL accessed on 2011-01-29.
  • "子" (in Mandarin/English). Dr. eye. URL accessed on 2011-01-29.

[edit] Middle Chinese

[edit] Han character

子 (*tziə̌)

[edit] Vietnamese

[edit] Han character

子 (tử, tí, tở)

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