首

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

Simplified from 𩠐 (巛 → 丷). Originally Phono-semantic compound (形聲): 巛 + 𦣻.

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

首 (radical 185 首+0, 9 strokes, cangjie input 廿竹月山 (THBU), four-corner 8060₁)

1. head
2. first
3. leader, chief
4. a poem

Derived terms

• Index:Chinese radical/首
• 道

See also

• 頁 敢

References

• KangXi: page 1427, character 32
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 44489
• Dae Jaweon: page 1953, character 27
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4500, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9996

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		首

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shǒu (shou³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄡˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sau²
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): shíu
• Min Nan (POJ): siú

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: shǒu
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄡˇ
    • Wade-Giles: shou³
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shoou
    • IPA ^(key): /ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: sau²
    • Yale: sáu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sau²
    • IPA ^(key): /sɐu̯³⁵/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: shíu
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /shi̯u³¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: siú
    • Tâi-lô: siú
    • IPA (Taipei): /ɕiu⁴¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɕiu⁵³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (首, reconstructed)
Character (首), Pronunciation 1/2
Initial: 書 (26) Final: 尤 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Rising (X)			Fanqie: 書九切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ɕɨuX/	/ɕi̯ə̯uX/	/ɕiuX/	/ɕiuX/	/ɕuwX/	/ɕĭəuX/	/ɕiəuX/
Character (首), Pronunciation 2/2
Initial: 書 (26) Final: 尤 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Departing (H)			Fanqie: 舒救切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ɕɨuH/	/ɕi̯ə̯uH/	/ɕiuH/	/ɕiuH/	/ɕuwH/	/ɕĭəuH/	/ɕiəuH/

Old Chinese pronunciation (首, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
首								shǒu								‹ syuwX ›								/*l̥ uʔ/								head
首								shǒu								‹ syuwH ›								/*l̥ uʔ-s/								turn the head towards
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
首					11671					首					幽					1					首					/*hljuʔ/
首					11672					首					幽					1					狩					/*hljus/

References

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

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Japanese

Kanji

首

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. neck
2. counter for songs and poems
3. beginning, first

Readings

• Goon: しゅ (shu)
• Kan’on: しゅう (shū)
• Kun: くび (kubi), おびと (obito), (rare) こうべ (koube), (rare) しるし (shirushi), (rare) つかさ (tsukasa)
• Nanori: おびと (obito), こべ (kobe), す (su)

Compounds

• 機首 (kishu)
• 手首 (tekubi)
• 足首 (ashikubi)
• 花首 (hanakubi)
• 首っ引き (kubippiki)
• 猪首 (ikubi)

Etymology 1

Noun

首 (hiragana くび, romaji kubi)

1. neck (part of the body connecting head and torso)
2. the neck and head as a whole

Compounds

• kubiwa

Etymology 2

Noun

首 (hiragana おびと, romaji obito)

1. (archaic) one who rules or commands a group of people; a chief

Etymology 3

kamipe > kampe > kaube > koːbe. Compound of either kami (“upper”) or kami (“hair”) with the suffix pe (“location”).

Noun

首 (hiragana こうべ, romaji kōbe, historical hiragana かうべ)

1. (part of the body) head

Etymology 4

Counter

首 (hiragana しゅ, romaji -shu)

1. poems and songs

See also

• 頭

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Korean

Hanja

首 (su)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 수 (revised: su, McCune-Reischauer: su, Yale: swu)

• Name (hangeul): 머리 (revised: meori, McCune-Reischauer: mŏri)

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Vietnamese

Han character

首 (thủ, thú)

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