字

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
字-bw.png

Han character[edit]

字 (radical 39 子+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十弓木 (JND), four-corner 30407, composition ⿱宀子)

References[edit]

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

Chinese[edit]

-
simp. and trad.
 字
Chinese Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia zh

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia en

Etymology[edit]

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 子 (“child”). It is also cognate with its phonetic component 子 — see Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za for more.

Pronunciation[edit]

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

Initial: 從 (15)
Final: 之
Division: III

Openness: Open
Tone: Departing (H)

 Fanqie: 疾置切
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 Bernard
Karlgren		 Li
Rong		 Pan
Wuyun		 Edwin
Pulleyblank		 Wang
Li		 Shao
Rongfen
/d͡zɨH/ /d͡zʱiH/ /d͡ziəH/ /d͡zɨH/ /d͡zɨH/ /d͡zĭəH/ /d͡zieH/
Old Chinese pronunciation (字, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character Modern Beijing
(Pinyin)		 Middle Chinese Old Chinese English
字 zì ‹ dziH › /*mə-dzə(ʔ)-s/ 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 No. Phonetic
component		 Rime
group		 Rime
subdivision		 Corresponding
MC rime		 Old Chinese Notes
字 17864 子 之 0 字 /*zlɯs/ 子分化字

Verb[edit]

字 (obsolete)

  1. to give birth to
  2. to be pregnant
  3. to bring up, to raise (a child)
  4. to love
  5. to educate, to teach
  6. to govern

Noun[edit]

字 (classifier 個／个)

  1. Chinese character; hanzi
    這個字怎麼念？ [MSC, trad.]
    这个字怎么念？ [MSC, simp.]
    Zhège zì zěnme niàn? [Pinyin]
    How do you pronounce/read this character?
  2. word
  3. style of handwriting; printing type
    我讀這封信很費勁，他的字很差。 [MSC, trad.]
    我读这封信很费劲，他的字很差。 [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ dú zhè fēng xìn hěn fèijìn, tā de zì hěn chā. [Pinyin]
    I have some trouble reading the letter. His handwriting is very bad.
  4. letter; symbol; character
    字母  ―  zìmǔ  ―  letter
    字串  ―  zìchuàn  ―  character string
  5. ​(historical) Chinese style name; courtesy name (a name traditionally given to Chinese males at the age of 20 (also called 表字))
  6. (regional, Cantonese) five minutes (on the clock)
    而家係點十一個字。 [Guangzhou Cantonese, trad.]
    而家系点十一个字。 [Guangzhou Cantonese, simp.]
    Ji4 gaa1 hai6 dim2 sap6 jat1 go3 zi6 . [Jyutping]
    It's five to two now. (Literally: It's [one] o'clock [and] eleven five-minutes.)
    爭三個字到六點 / 争三个字到六点 [Guangzhou Cantonese]  ―  caang1 saam1 go3 zi6 dou3 luk6 dim2 [Jyutping]  ―  a quarter to six (Literally: Missing three five-minutes to six o'clock)

Usage notes[edit]

  • Chinese people usually count what they say in characters/syllables. E.g. 我不知道 (wǒ bù zhīdào) has three words but four characters

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Sino-Xenic (字):

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

See also:
字

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings[edit]

Compounds[edit]

  • 十字 (じゅうじ, jūji): cross
  • 字解 (じかい, jikai)
  • 字義 (じぎ, jigi): the meaning of a word
  • 字源 (じげん, jigen): the construction of a character
  • 字体 (じたい, jitai): font or lettering
  • 字典 (じてん, jiten): character dictionary
  • 字母 (じぼ, jibo): letter (of the alphabet)
  • 漢字 (かんじ, kanji): Chinese characters
    漢字返し (kanji-gaeshi) kanji repeater
  • 文字 (もじ, moji): letter, character, or ideograph
  • 字引 (じびき, jibiki): dictionary
  • 数字 (すうじ, sūji): numeral or number
  • 字訳

Etymology 1[edit]

Kanji in this term
字
じ
Grade: 1
on'yomi

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

Noun[edit]

字 (hiragana じ, romaji ji)

  1. a letter, character
    この字 (じ)は何 (なん)と読 (よ)みますか？
    kono ji wa nan to yomimasuka?
    How do you pronounce this character?
  2. handwriting
    彼女 (かのじょ)は字 (じ)が上手 (うま)い。
    kanojo wa ji ga umai.
    She has good handwriting.

Counter[edit]

字 (hiragana じ, romaji -ji)

  1. letters, characters
    ４０字以内 (よんじゅうじいない)で書 (か)いてください。
    yon jū ji inai de kaite kudasai.
    Please write it down in 40 letters or fewer.

Etymology 2[edit]

Kanji in this term
字
あざ
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

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

Noun[edit]

字 (hiragana あざ, romaji aza)

  1. a section of a village
Derived terms[edit]

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

字 (ja)
Eumhun:

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

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

字 (tự, chữ, tợ)

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

Readings[edit]

References[edit]

  • 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

Compounds[edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=字&oldid=32207070"