的

simpl. and trad.

的

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 白 (“white”) + phonetic 勺

的 and 勺 had roughly similar pronunciations in Old Chinese; Baxter-Sagart reconstruct 的 as *t-lˤewk, compared with 勺 *m-t-qewk. (The m- and t- here are prefixes.)

The original meaning was "bright," hence the 白 semantic.

的	的		的
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

的 (radical 106 白+3, 8 strokes, cangjie input 竹日心戈 (HAPI), four-corner 2762₀, composition ⿰白勺)

1. possessive, adjectival suffix
2. target, mark
3. indeed

References

• KangXi: page 786, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 22692
• Dae Jaweon: page 1201, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2644, character 16
• Unihan data for U+7684

---

Cantonese

• Romanizations
  • Cantonese
    • Yale: dik1

See also

• 嘅

---

Japanese

Kanji

的 (grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On: てき (teki)
• Kun: まと (mato), あきらか (akiraka)

Noun

的 (hiragana まと, romaji mato)

1. target, mark

   Accent: 0

Compounds

• 的確
• 的中

Suffix

的 (hiragana てき, romaji -teki)

1. -like, -ical, -ish, suffix for forming na-adjectives (形容動詞) from nouns (名詞)

   Accent: compound formed is of accent type 0

---

Korean

Hanja

的 (hangeul 적, revised jeok, McCune-Reischauer chŏk, Yale cek)

---

Mandarin

Adverb

的 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin dí)

1. really; truly

Derived terms

• trad. 的確, simpl. 的确

Noun

的 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin dì)

1. target; objective

Derived terms

• 目的

Particle

的 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin de)

1. Indicates that the previous word has possession of the next one. In English it functions like ’s (or like the word “of” but with the position of possessor and possessee switched.)
   • John 1.9

     那光是真光，照亮一切生在世上的人。

     Nà guāng shì zhēn guāng, zhàoliàng yīqiè shēng zaì shìshàng de rén.

     That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

2. Indicates the relation between two nouns.
   • [1]

     首先看到的是 Thames 河 的出海口

   蛇的毒

   the snake’s poison

3. Indicates a noun in relation to another noun

   trad. 眾人的國家, simpl. 众人的国家

   the People’s Country

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Synonyms

• 之 (zhī)
• 嘅 (kài) (Cantonese)

Derived terms

• trad. 的話, simpl. 的话

Syllable

的 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin dí)

1. phonetic element

Derived terms

• 的士
• 的黎波里
• trad. 的里亞斯特, simpl. 的里亚斯特

See also

• 得
• 地
• (Japanese) の (no)
• (Korean) 의 (ui)

---

Middle Chinese

Han character

的 (dek)

---

Min Nan

Noun

的 (traditional and simplified, POJ tek)

1. target; objective

Derived terms

• 目的

Particle

的 (traditional and simplified, POJ ê)

1. Indicates that the previous word has possession of the next one. In English it functions like ’s (or like the word “of” but with the position of possessor and possessee switched.)
2. Indicates the relation between two nouns.

   蛇的毒

   chôa ê to̍k

   the snake’s poison

3. Indicates a noun in relation to another noun.

   trad. 眾人的國家, simpl. 众人的国家

   chèng-lâng ê kok-ka

   the People’s Country

See also

• 個
• 个

---

Vietnamese

Han character

的 (đích, đét, đít, điếc, đếch)