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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Cantonese

Hanzi

首 (Yale sau2)

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Japanese

Noun

首 (hiragana くび, romaji kubi, shu)

1. neck (part of the body connecting head and torso)
2. the neck and head as a whole
3. one's life
4. tell

   百人一首

   ひゃくにんいっしゅ

   Hyaku-nin-itsu-shu

   Hundred poems from all different poets (Each one told by another person).

   自首

   じしゅ

   Jishu

   Confess (telling one's criminality) out of one's own initiative.

5. (首にする, kubi ni suru, verb) dismiss; fire; sack

Compounds

• kubiwa

Noun

首 (hiragana おびと, romaji obito)

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

Etymology

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

Kanji

首 (grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On: しゅ (shu), しゅう (shū)
• Kun: くび (kubi), こうべ (koube), しるし (shirushi)

Compounds

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

See also

• 頭

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Korean

Hanja

首
Eumhun:

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

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

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Mandarin

Hanzi

首 (pinyin qiú (qiu2), shǒu (shou3), Wade-Giles ch'iu², shou³)

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Vietnamese

Han character

首 (thủ, thú)