氏

Translingual

Stroke order

Etymology

Pictogram (象形) – a man bowing over to the left. Significantly abstracted – the middle cross was initially the knee, the stroke at bottom left was the bowed head, and the top was the back-swept hands or clothes.

Han character

氏 (radical 83 氏+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 竹女心 (HVP), four-corner 7274₀)

1. clan, family
2. mister
3. (formerly) née, born as, maiden name

Usage notes

• The third meaning has become largely obsolete, as current Chinese practice is for married women to continue to use their former surnames. The practice of sometimes adopting the husband's surname is being revived, however. 氏 follows the maiden name, which follows the married name — 張氏 (née Zhang), 李張氏 (Li née Zhang), or 配張氏 (married to a lady of the Zhang clan).

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/氏
• See also 氐#Derived characters

References

• KangXi: page 597, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17026
• Dae Jaweon: page 988, character 30
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2130, character 1
• Unihan data for U+6C0F

---

Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		氏

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shì, zhī, jīng (shi⁴, zhi¹, jing¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕˋ, ㄓ, ㄐㄧㄥ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si⁶, zi¹
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): shì
• Min Nan (POJ): sī

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: shì
    • Zhuyin: ㄕˋ
    • Wade-Giles: shih⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyh
    • IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩⁵¹/
      
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: zhī
    • Zhuyin: ㄓ
    • Wade-Giles: chih¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jy
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
      
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: jīng
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄥ
    • Wade-Giles: ching¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jing
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕiŋ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: si⁶, zi¹
    • Yale: sih, jī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si⁶, dzi¹
    • IPA ^(key): /siː²²/, /t͡siː⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: shì
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /shi¹¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sī
    • Tâi-lô: sī
    • IPA (Taipei): /ɕi³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɕi²²/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (氏, reconstructed)
Character (氏), Pronunciation 1/3
Initial: 章 (23) Final: 支 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 章移切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ɕiᴇ/	/t͡ɕie̯/	/t͡ɕie/	/t͡ɕiɛ/	/ciə̆/	/t͡ɕǐe/	/t͡ɕjɛ/
Character (氏), Pronunciation 2/3
Initial: 精 (13) Final: 清 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 子盈切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡siᴇŋ/	/t͡si̯ɛŋ/	/t͡siɛŋ/	/t͡siɛŋ/	/t͡siajŋ/	/t͡sĭɛŋ/	/t͡siæŋ/
Character (氏), Pronunciation 3/3
Initial: 常 (25) Final: 支 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Rising (X)			Fanqie: 承紙切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/d͡ʑiᴇX/	/ʑie̯X/	/ʑieX/	/d͡ʑiɛX/	/d͡ʑiə̆X/	/ʑǐeX/	/d͡ʑjɛX/

Old Chinese pronunciation (氏, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
氏								shì								‹ dzyeX ›								/*k.deʔ/								clan
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
氏					11513					氏					耕					0					精					/*skeŋ/					漢縣
氏					11515					氏					支					0					支					/*kje/					月氏
氏					11523					氏					支					0					是					/*ɡjeʔ/					甲金文象人俯伏手臂下據着地（右下菱形象封土，指胙土命氏，金文省爲圓點），以表對氏族份地的禮敬，後轉註爲坁祇，非乁聲

Compounds

• 氏族 (clan)

References

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

---

Japanese

Kanji

氏

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On: し (shi)
• Kun: うじ (uji)

Noun

氏 (hiragana し, romaji shi)

1. a family; a clan
2. Mr.; Mrs.
3. a certain person

氏 (hiragana うじ, romaji uji)

1. a family name
2. birth; lineage

---

Korean

Hanja

氏 (ssi, ji) (hangeul 씨, 지, revised ssi, ji, McCune-Reischauer ssi, chi, Yale ssi, ci)

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

---

Vietnamese

Han character

氏 (thị)

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