開

See also: 开

Translingual

Etymology

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 門 (“door”) + 开 – a pair of hands opening a door: the door is open.

Han character

開 (radical 169 門+4, 12 strokes, cangjie input 日弓一廿 (ANMT), four-corner 7744₁, composition ⿵門开)

1. to open
2. initiate, begin, start

Synonyms

• (open): 闢

Derived characters

• 𤡲, 𣛣, 𦼠, 𥳐, 鐦 (锎)

References

• KangXi: page 1331, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41233
• Dae Jaweon: page 1835, character 15
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4286, character 2
• Unihan data for U+958B

---

Chinese

		-
trad.		開
simp.		开

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kāi (kai¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄞ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): hoi¹
• Min Nan (POJ): khui / khai

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: kāi
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄞ
    • Wade-Giles: k'ai¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kai
    • IPA ^(key): /kʰaɪ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: hoi¹
    • Yale: hōi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hoi¹
    • IPA ^(key): /hɔːi̯⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khui / khai
    • Tâi-lô: khui / khai
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰui⁴⁴/, /kʰaɪ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰui³⁴/, /kʰaɪ³⁴/
  • Note: khui - vernacular, khai - literary.

Middle Chinese pronunciation (開, reconstructed)
Character (開), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 溪 (29) Final: 咍 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 苦哀切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/kʰʌi/	/kʰɑ̆i/	/kʰᴀi/	/kʰəi/	/kʰəj/	/kʰɒi/	/kʰɒi/

Old Chinese pronunciation (開, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
開								kāi								‹ khoj ›								/*Nə-[k]ʰˤəj/								to open (v.i.)
開								kāi								‹ khoj ›								/*[k]ʰˤəj/								to open (v.t.)
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
開					7348					開					微					1					開					/*kʰɯːl/

Verb

開

1. to open
2. to start, to turn on
3. to boil
4. to write out (a prescription, check, invoice)
5. to operate (vehicle)
6. Abbreviation of 開爾文/开尔文 (degrees Kelvin).

Compounds

• 開OT
• 開心
• 開通
• 開會

References

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

---

Japanese

Ryakuji for 開, based on ryakuji for 門; compare also 間 and 𫔭.

Kanji

開

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. open

Readings

• On: かい (kai)
• Kun: ひらく (開く, hiraku), あく (開く, aku)

Antonyms

• 閉

Derived terms

• 開く
• 開ける

---

Korean

Hanja

開 (gae) (hangeul 개, revised gae, McCune-Reischauer kae, Yale kay)

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

---

Vietnamese

Han character

開 (khai, khơi, khui)

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