考

See also: 攷

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

Variant of 老 – Ideogrammic compound (會意): 耂 (“an old man with long hair, bent over”) + 匕 (“a cane”) – an old man, leaning on a cane. Compare top component to 孝.

Cognate to 老; the most commonly cited example of 轉注 (zhuǎn zhù, “reciprocal meaning”).

Han character

考 (radical 125 老+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十大卜尸 (JKYS), four-corner 4420₇, composition ⿱耂丂)

1. examine, test, investigate, verify
2. examination, test
3. old age
4. (archaic) a posthumous name for male relations
   • The Book of Rites, Qu Li II, 122:

     祭王父曰皇祖考，王母曰皇祖妣。父曰皇考，母曰皇妣。夫曰皇辟。生曰父、曰母、曰妻，死曰考、曰妣、曰嬪。

     In sacrificing to them, a grandfather is called 'the sovereign grandfather'; a grandmother, 'the sovereign grandmother'; a father, 'the sovereign father'; a mother, 'the sovereign mother; a husband, 'the sovereign pattern.' While alive, the names of 'father', 'mother', and 'wife' are used; when they are dead, those of 'the completed one', 'the corresponding one', and 'the honored one'.

References

• KangXi: page 960, character 27
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 28843
• Dae Jaweon: page 1408, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2779, character 2
• Unihan data for U+8003

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		考

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kǎo (kao³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): haau²
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): kháu
• Min Nan (POJ): khó

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: kǎo
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄠˇ
    • Wade-Giles: k'ao³
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kao
    • IPA ^(key): /kʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: haau²
    • Yale: háau
    • Cantonese Pinyin: haau²
    • IPA ^(key): /hɑːu̯³⁵/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kháu
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /kʰa̯u³¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khó
    • Tâi-lô: khó
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰə⁴¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰə⁵³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (考, reconstructed)
Character (考), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 溪 (29) Final: 豪 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Rising (X)			Fanqie: 苦浩切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/kʰɑuX/	/kʰɑuX/	/kʰɑuX/	/kʰɑuX/	/kʰawX/	/kʰɑuX/	/kʰɑuX/

Old Chinese pronunciation (考, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
考								kǎo								‹ khawX ›								/*k-r̥ ˤuʔ/								old; deceased father
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
考					7404					丂					幽					1					考					/*kʰluːʔ/

Etymology

Originally meant old; deconstructed as 耂 derivative (老字头) of 老 lǎo "old" + 丂 qiǎo (phonetic). Later evolved to mean "deceased father". Modern meanings of to exam, to study and to ponder a possible extension of the kind of activities old men do.

Noun

考

1. (archaic) deceased father

Verb

考

1. to have or give an exam/test (考试 kǎoshì)

   考考你的数学能力。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Kǎo kǎo nǐ de shùxué nénglì. [Pinyin]

   Test your maths prowess.

2. to consider (考虑 kǎolǜ)
3. to check; to examine
4. to study; to investigate

Compounds

• 考查
• 考察
• 考古
• trad. 考古學, simpl. 考古学
• 考核
• 考究
• trad. 考慮, simpl. 考虑
• 考勤
• 考取
• trad. 考試, simpl. 考试
• 考研
• trad. 考驗, simpl. 考验
• trad. 考驗, simpl. 考验
• trad. 報考, simpl. 报考

See also

• 测
• 验

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Japanese

Kanji

考

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. thought
2. consideration

Readings

• On: こう (kō), from かう (kau)
• Kun: かんがえる (kangaeru), かんがえ (kangae)

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Korean

Hanja

考 (go) (hangeul 고, revised go, McCune-Reischauer ko, Yale ko)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

考 (khảo)

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