差

See also: 着 and 羞

Translingual

shinjitai	差
simplified	差
traditional	差

Etymology

Ideogram (指事); while current form 羊 + 工 (with distorted 羊), this is not the historical development, and it is not related to 着 or 羞.

Han character

差 (radical 48 工+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 廿手一 (TQM), four-corner 8021₁, composition ⿸⺶工)

1. to differ
2. different, wrong
3. nearly, almost
4. an officer

References

• KangXi: page 326, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8732
• Dae Jaweon: page 629, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 413, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5DEE

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		差

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): chà, chā, chāi, cī (cha⁴, cha¹, chai¹, ci¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄔㄚˋ, ㄔㄚ, ㄔㄞ, ㄘ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): caa¹, caai¹, ci¹
• Min Nan (POJ): chhe / cho̍ah / chhai / chha

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: chà
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄚˋ
    • Wade-Giles: ch'a⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chah
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰa̠⁵¹/

    • (file)

      
      
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: chā
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄚ
    • Wade-Giles: ch'a¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: cha
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰa̠⁵⁵/
      
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: chāi
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄞ
    • Wade-Giles: ch'ai¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chai
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰaɪ̯⁵⁵/
      
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: cī
    • Zhuyin: ㄘ
    • Wade-Giles: tz'u¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsy
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰz̩⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: caa¹, caai¹, ci¹
    • Yale: chā, chāai, chī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsaa¹, tsaai¹, tsi¹
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɑː⁵⁵/, /t͡sʰɑːi̯⁵⁵/, /t͡sʰiː⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhe / cho̍ah / chhai / chha
    • Tâi-lô: tshe / tsua̍h / tshai / tsha
    • IPA (Taipei): /t͡sʰe⁴⁴/, /t͡suaʔ⁴/, /t͡sʰaɪ⁴⁴/, /t͡sʰa⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡sʰe³⁴/, /t͡suaʔ¹²¹/, /t͡sʰaɪ³⁴/, /t͡sʰa³⁴/
  • Note: chhe, choa̍h, chhai - vernacular, chha - literary.

Middle Chinese pronunciation (差, reconstructed)
Character (差), Pronunciation 1/5
Initial: 初 (19) Final: 支 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 楚宜切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ʃʰiᴇ/	/ʈ͡ʂʰie̯/	/t͡ʃʰie/	/ʈ͡ʂʰiɛ/	/ʈ͡ʂʰiə̆/	/t͡ʃʰǐe/	/t͡ʃʰjɛ/
Character (差), Pronunciation 2/5
Initial: 初 (19) Final: 佳 Division: II			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 楚佳切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ʃʰɣɛ/	/ʈ͡ʂʰai/	/t͡ʃʰɛ/	/ʈ͡ʂʰɯæ/	/ʈ͡ʂʰaɨj/	/t͡ʃʰai/	/t͡ʃʰæi/
Character (差), Pronunciation 3/5
Initial: 初 (19) Final: 皆 Division: II			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 楚皆切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ʃʰɣɛi/	/ʈ͡ʂʰăi/	/t͡ʃʰɛi/	/ʈ͡ʂʰɯæi/	/ʈ͡ʂʰəɨj/	/t͡ʃʰɐi/	/t͡ʃʰɐi/
Character (差), Pronunciation 4/5
Initial: 初 (19) Final: 麻 Division: II			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 初加切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ʃʰɣa/	/ʈ͡ʂʰa/	/t͡ʃʰa/	/ʈ͡ʂʰɯa/	/ʈ͡ʂʰaɨ/	/t͡ʃʰa/	/t͡ʃʰa/
Character (差), Pronunciation 5/5
Initial: 初 (19) Final: 佳 Division: II			Openness: Open Tone: Departing (H)			Fanqie: 楚懈切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ʃʰɣɛH/	/ʈ͡ʂʰaiH/	/t͡ʃʰɛH/	/ʈ͡ʂʰɯæH/	/ʈ͡ʂʰaɨjH/	/t͡ʃʰaiH/	/t͡ʃʰæiH/

Old Chinese pronunciation (差, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
差								chā								‹ tsrhæ ›								/*tsʰraj/								distinction; to select
差								chāi								‹ tsrhɛ ›								/*[tsʰ]raj/								distinction; to select
差								chāi								‹ tsrhɛj ›								/*[tsʰ](ˤ)raj/								distinction; to select
差								cī								‹ tsrhje ›								/*tsʰraj/								參差 uneven
差								cuō								‹ tsha ›								/*[tsʰ]ˤaj/								rub, polish, file (v.)
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
差					18029					左					歌					1										/*sʰraːl/
差					18030					左					歌					1										/*sʰraːls/
差					18037					左					歌					2					差					/*sʰreːl/					金文上從來，本指以手揀麥子分等次，左亦聲
差					18038					左					歌					2					釵					/*sʰreːl/
差					18039					左					歌					2					差					/*sʰreːls/					見方言後作瘥
差					18042					左					歌					1					差					/*sʰral/					見孟子

Verb

差

1. to differ from
2. to fall short of

Adjective

差

1. wanting
2. short of

1. • John 1.6

     有一个人，是从神那里差来的，名叫约翰。

     Yǒu yīge rén, shì cóng Shén nàli chāi lái de, míngjiào John.

     There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

Compounds

• chā
  • 差别
  • 差池, 差迟
  • 差错
  • 差动
  • 差讹
  • 差额
  • 差额选举
  • 差价
  • 差距
  • 差强人意
  • 差三错四
  • 差数
  • 差误
  • 差异
  • 差之毫厘，谬以千里
• chà
  • 差不点儿
  • 差不多
  • 差不离, 差不离儿
  • 差不了
  • 差得远
  • 差等
  • 差点儿
  • 差劲, 差劲儿
  • 差生
  • 差事
  • 差样, 差样的
• chāi
  • 差旅费
  • 差遣
  • 差缺
  • 差使
  • 差事
  • 差役

References

• (Min Nan) Taiwan Min Nan Common Words Dictionary (臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典)

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Japanese

Kanji

差

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: し (shi) (non-Jōyō reading), しゃ (sha) (non-Jōyō reading), せ (se) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’on: さ (sa), さい (sai) (non-Jōyō reading), し (shi) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kun: さす (差す, sasu), たがう (tagau), たがい (tagai)

Compounds

• 差異
• 差違
• 差益
• 差額
• 差金
• 差遣
• 差損
• 差等
• 差動
• 差配人
• 差別
• 脇差

Noun

差 (hiragana さ, romaji sa)

1. difference

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Korean

Hanja

差 (cha, chi) (hangeul 차, 치, revised cha, chi, McCune-Reischauer ch'a, ch'i)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

差 (sai, sái, si, sươi, sau, sây)

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