子

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
See also: 千, 干, and 于

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
子-order.gif

Etymology[edit]

Pictogram (象形) – an image of a baby, with a large head and spread arms. The legs are wrapped in a blanket. Compare with 了, where the arms are wrapped. Also compare 呆, of the same origin.

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

Han character[edit]

Commons-logo.svg
See images of
Radical 39 子

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 (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

Derived characters[edit]

Related characters[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  • 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

See also[edit]

Chinese[edit]

-
simp. and trad.
 子

Pronunciation[edit]

Middle Chinese pronunciation (子, reconstructed)
Character (子), Pronunciation 1/1

Initial: 精 (13)
Final: 之
Division: III

Openness: Open
Tone: Rising (X)

 Fanqie: 即里切
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 Bernard
Karlgren		 Li
Rong		 Pan
Wuyun		 Edwin
Pulleyblank		 Wang
Li		 Shao
Rongfen
/t͡sɨX/ /t͡siX/ /t͡siəX/ /t͡sɨX/ /t͡sɨX/ /t͡sĭəX/ /t͡sieX/
Old Chinese pronunciation (子, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character Modern Beijing
(Pinyin)		 Middle Chinese Old Chinese English
子 zǐ ‹ tsiX › /*[ts]əʔ/ 1st earthly branch
子 zǐ ‹ tsiX › /*tsəʔ/ 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 No. Phonetic
component		 Rime
group		 Rime
subdivision		 Corresponding
MC rime		 Old Chinese Notes
子 17857 子 之 0 子 /*ʔslɯʔ/

Noun[edit]

子

  1. (literary) son; child
  2. (literary) person
  3. (astrology) First Earthly Branch (地支 or 十二支) : rat in the Chinese zodiac, 11th solar month, 11pm to 1am (midnight)
  4. (literary) master
    孔子  ―  kǒngzǐ  ―  Master Kong (Confucius)
  5. Viscount, fourth of five ranks of Chinese aristocracy (五等爵位) under the Zhou dynasty
See also[edit]

Prefix[edit]

子

  1. young; tender; small
  2. sub-

Suffix[edit]

子

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

Suffix[edit]

子

  1. seed
    • 葵花子  ―  kuíhuāzǐ  ―  sunflower seed
  2. fruit
  3. egg

Pronoun[edit]

子

  1. (literary) you
Compounds[edit]
Related terms

References[edit]

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

See also:
子

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Kanji in this term
子
こ
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Old Japanese.[1] Seen in the Kojiki and the Man'yōshū, two of the oldest examples of written Japanese. Cognate with 蚕 (ko, “silkworm”). Also possibly cognate with 小 (ko, “little”, diminutive prefix).

Pronunciation[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • 児 (less commonly used)

Noun[edit]

子 (hiragana こ, romaji ko)

  1. a child
    男の子 — おとこのこ — otoko no ko — male child: a boy
  2. (figuratively) a girl, especially a dear or desired one (compare use of English baby, babe)
    • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 7, poem #1266); text here
      大舟乎 荒海尓榜出 八船多氣 吾見之兒等之 目見者知之母
      大船を 荒海に漕ぎ出で や船たけ 我が見し子らが まみはしるしも
      おほぶねを あるみにこぎで やふねたけ わがみしこらが まみはしるしも
      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. a smaller or younger version of a bigger object
    きのこ — kinoko — a "tree's child / little one": a mushroom
    竹の子 — たけのこ — takenoko — a "bamboo's child / little one": a bamboo shoot
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms

Prefix[edit]

子 (hiragana こ, romaji ko-)

  1. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
    子会社 こがいしゃ — kogaisha — a subsidiary
    子犬 — こいぬ — koinu — a puppy
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms

Suffix[edit]

子 (hiragana こ, romaji -ko)

  1. suffix used in female given names, such as 智子 (ともこ, ​Tomoko), 英子 (えいこ, ​Eiko), 秀子 (ひでこ, ​Hideko), 美奈子 (みなこ, ​Minako)
  2. (rare) suffix used in male given names
  3. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
    振子 — ふりこ — furiko — an object that swings: a pendulum
  4. roe (only when preceded by a fish name, or fish-related prefix)
    明太子 — めんたいこ — mentaiko — pollock roe
    飛子 — とびこ — tobiko — flying fish roe
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms

Etymology 2[edit]

Kanji in this term
子
す
Grade: 1
on'yomi
Kanji in this term
子
し
Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 子 (tsiX). Compare modern Mandarin 子 (zǐ).

The goon reading of shi is likely the original borrowing. 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.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • On'yomi
  • IPA(key): [ɕi], [sɯᵝ] (second reading less common, only used in word-final position)

Affix[edit]

子 (hiragana し, romaji shi) (alternative reading hiragana す, romaji su)

  1. a child
  2. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
  3. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
    中性子 — ちゅうせいし — chūseishi — a neutral small thing: a neutron
    椅子 — いす — isu — literally, a chair small thing: a chair
Usage notes[edit]
  • This affix is never used in isolation. It is only used in on'yomi compounds.
  • In some kanji compounds, 子 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 子 in some compounds has become optional, as in 椰子 vs. 椰 (yashi, “a palm tree”), or 柚子 vs. 柚 (yuzu, “an aromatic citron”).
  • In some compounds, the shi or su reading becomes voiced as ji or zu due to rendaku.
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms

References[edit]

  1. ^ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

子 (ja)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 자 (revised: ja, McCune-Reischauer: cha)
  1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

子 (tử, tú, tí, tở, bình, huỳnh)

  1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

References[edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=子&oldid=32764853"