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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Cantonese

Hanzi

考 (Yale haau2)

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Japanese

Kanji

考 (grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

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

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Korean

Hanja

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

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Mandarin

simpl. and trad.
考

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.

Hanzi

考 (pinyin kǎo (kao3), Wade-Giles k'ao³)

Noun

考 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin kǎo)

1. (archaic) deceased father

Verb

考 (traditional and simplified, Pinyin kǎo)

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

   考考你的数学能力。

   kǎo kǎo nǐ de shùxué nénglì

   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
• 考古學 (trad.), 考古学 (simp.)
• 考核
• 考究
• 考慮 (trad.), 考虑 (simp.)
• 考勤
• 考取
• 考試 (trad.), 考试 (simp.)
• 考研
• 考驗 (trad.), 考验 (simp.)
• 考驗 (trad.), 考验 (simp.)
• 報考 (trad.), 报考 (simp.)

See also

• 测
• 验

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Vietnamese

Han character

考 (khảo)