性

Translingual

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 忄 (“heart”) + phonetic 生 – nature, personal quality, hence of the heart.

Han character

性 (radical 61 心+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 心竹手一 (PHQM), four-corner 9501₀, composition ⿰忄生)

1. nature, character
2. sex, gender

References

• KangXi: page 381, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10478
• Dae Jaweon: page 710, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2286, character 4
• Unihan data for U+6027

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		性

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xìng (xing⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄥˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sing³
• Min Nan (POJ): sèⁿ / sìⁿ / sìng

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: xìng
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄥˋ
    • Wade-Giles: hsing⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shinq
    • IPA ^(key): /ɕiŋ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: sing³
    • Yale: sing
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sing³
    • IPA ^(key): /sɪŋ³³/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sèⁿ / sìⁿ / sìng
    • Tâi-lô: sènn / sìnn / sìng
    • IPA (Taipei): /sẽ¹¹/, /ɕĩ¹¹/, /ɕiŋ¹¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /sẽ²¹/, /ɕĩ²¹/, /ɕiŋ²¹/
  • Note: sèⁿ, sìⁿ - vernacular, sìng - literary.

Middle Chinese pronunciation (性, reconstructed)
Character (性), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 心 (16) Final: 清 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Departing (H)			Fanqie: 息正切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/siᴇŋH/	/si̯ɛŋH/	/siɛŋH/	/siɛŋH/	/siajŋH/	/sĭɛŋH/	/siæŋH/

Old Chinese pronunciation (性, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
性								xìng								‹ sjengH ›								/*seŋ-s/								nature
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
性					11358					生					耕					0					性					/*sleŋs/

Compounds

• 可及性
• 性交

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

性

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. one's nature
2. characteristic
3. sex, gender
4. content

Readings

• Goon: しょう (shō)
• Kan’on: せい (sei)
• Kun: さが (saga), なりくせ (narikuse)
• Nanori: なり (nari), もと (moto)

Compounds

性交 性分 性善説 男性

性急 性悪説 性情 中性

性格 性癖 性能 悪性

性行 性質 女性

References

• Shift JIS: 90AB
• JIS: 402D

Noun

性 (hiragana せい, romaji sei)

1. sex, gender
2. (grammar) gender

Synonyms

• 性別 (せいべつ) (seibetsu)

性 (hiragana さが, romaji saga)

• one's nature
• characteristic

Synonyms

• 本能 (ほんのう) (honnō)

Suffix

性 (hiragana せい, romaji -sei)

1. -ity, -ness, the nature of quality or something

性 (hiragana しょう, romaji -shō)

1. nature of something

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Korean

Hanja

性 (seong) (hangeul 성, revised seong, McCune-Reischauer sŏng, Yale seng)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

性 (tính, dính, tánh)

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