正

See also: 企, 疋, and 辵

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Alternative forms

In complex characters, often written with last two strokes different, as in 疋; compare 昰 and 是.

Etymology

Ideogram (指事): 口 + 止 (“foot”) – a foot 止 facing a box, wall 口, indicating “reached the end, completion”. Top component 口 simplified to a line 一 in bronze script.

Han character

正 (radical 77 止+1, 5 strokes, cangjie input 一卜中一 (MYLM), four-corner 1010₁, composition ⿱一止)

Usage notes

• (tally marks, 5): The successive strokes of 正 () are used in China, Japan, and Korea to designate tallies in votes, scores, points, sushi orders, and the like, much as is used in Europe, Africa, Australia, and North America. Tallies beyond five are written with a 正 for each group of five, followed by the remainder. For example, a tally of twelve is written as 正正丅.

Derived characters

• 定 昰 是
• 症 征 (as simplification)

Related characters

• 疋 乏

References

• KangXi: page 574, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16255
• Dae Jaweon: page 962, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1436, character 1
• Unihan data for U+6B63

See also

• Chinese numeral 正
  • Last: 澗, 涧
  • Next: 載, 载

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		正

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhèng (zheng⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄓㄥˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zeng³, zing¹, zing³
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): chang/chṳn
• Min Nan (POJ): chiàⁿ / chiaⁿ
• Wu (WT Romanisation): tsen (T1); tsen (T2)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: zhèng
    • Zhuyin: ㄓㄥˋ
    • Wade-Giles: chêng⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jenq
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂɤŋ⁵¹/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: zeng³, zing¹, zing³
    • Yale: jeng, jīng, jing
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzeng³, dzing¹, dzing³
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡sɛːŋ³³/, /t͡sɪŋ⁵⁵/, /t͡sɪŋ³³/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: chang/chṳn
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /t͡saŋ⁵⁵/, /t͡sɨn⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chiàⁿ / chiaⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: tsiànn / tsiann
    • IPA (Taipei): /t͡ɕiã¹¹/, /t͡ɕiã⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡ɕiã²¹/, /t͡ɕiã³⁴/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: tsen (T1); tsen (T2)
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡səɲ⁵³/, /t͡səɲ³⁴/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (正, reconstructed)
Character (正), Pronunciation 1/2
Initial: 章 (23) Final: 清 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 諸盈切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ɕiᴇŋ/	/t͡ɕi̯ɛŋ/	/t͡ɕiɛŋ/	/t͡ɕiɛŋ/	/ciajŋ/	/t͡ɕĭɛŋ/	/t͡ɕiæŋ/
Character (正), Pronunciation 2/2
Initial: 章 (23) Final: 清 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Departing (H)			Fanqie: 之盛切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ɕiᴇŋH/	/t͡ɕi̯ɛŋH/	/t͡ɕiɛŋH/	/t͡ɕiɛŋH/	/ciajŋH/	/t͡ɕĭɛŋH/	/t͡ɕiæŋH/

Old Chinese pronunciation (正, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
正								zhēng								‹ tsyeng ›								/*C.teŋ/								1st (month)
正								zhèng								‹ tsyengH ›								/*teŋ-s/								correct (adj., 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
正					17171					正					耕					0					征					/*tjeŋ/					甲文從止丁聲，徵初文
正					17178					正					耕					0					政					/*tjeŋs/

Definitions

正

1. straight, upright
2. right, proper, correct
3. exact, standardized, just so
4. primary, chief, main
5. first
6. pure, unmixed
7. pretty
8. honest
9. placed or situated in the middle
10. just now, right now
11. straighten
12. put right, rectify
13. (shapes) regular
14. (mathematics) positive
15. (tally marks) 5
16. (numismatics) obverse
17. 10⁴⁰

Antonyms

• 歪

Compounds

Derived terms

• 正在

• 正常

• 正式

• 正月

• 正確／正确

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Japanese

Kanji

正

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: しょう (shō) < しやう (shau)
• Kan’on: せい (sei)
• Kun: ただしい (tadashii), まさ (masa), ただす (tadasu)

Compounds

Derived terms

正覚 (しょうがく, shougaku) 正月 (しょうがつ, shougatsu) 正客 (しょうきゃく, shoukyaku) 正直 (しょうじき, shoujiki) 正体 (しょうたい, shoutai) 正札 (しょうふだ, shoufuda) 正法 (しょうぶ, shoubu) 正本 (しょうほん, shouhon) 正味 (しょうみ, shoumi) 正面 (しょうめん, shoumen) 正義 (せいぎ, seigi) 正確 (せいかく, seikaku) 正眼 (せいがん, seigan) 正鵠 (せいこく, seikoku) 正史 (せいし, seishi) 正使 (せいし, seishi) 正式 (せいしき, seishiki) 正規 (せいき, seiki) 正視 (せいし, seishi) 正書 (せいしょ, seisho) 正字 (せいじ, seiji) 正邪 (せいじゃ, seija) 正常 (せいじょう, seijou) 正数 (せいすう, seisuu) 正々堂々 (せいせいどうどう, seiseidōdō) 正則 (せいそく, seisoku) 正道 (せいどう, seidou) 正犯 (せいはん, seihan) 正否 (せいひ, seihi) 正比例 (せいひれい, seihirei) 正文 (せいぶん, seibun) 正論 (せいろん, seiron) 正夢 (まさゆめ, masayume)

Number

正 (せい, sei)

1. A number of 10⁴⁰ in modern Japanese since 17th century.
2. 5. Similar to four vertical lines followed by a slanted horizontal line crossing through them, this character is used to count to 5 stroke by stroke. Thus this kanji written up to the third stroke represents 3. After the fifth and final stroke, when this character is completed, one starts writing this character again to count to higher numbers.

Proper noun

正 (hiragana ただし, romaji Tadashi)

1. A male given name

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Korean

Hanja

正 (jeong)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 정 (McCune-Reischauer: chŏng, Yale: ceng)

• Name (hangeul): 바를 (revised: bareul, McCune-Reischauer: parŭl, Yale: palul)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

正 (chính, chánh, chếnh, giêng)

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