兆

兆 U+5146, 兆 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5146 ← 充 [U+5145] CJK Unified Ideographs 兇 → [U+5147]

Translingual

Etymology

Historical forms of the character 兆
Oracle bone script	Bamboo and silk script	Large seal script	Small seal script
Oracle bone script j01450 j01451 j01452 Large seal script L34835 L34836 L16555 L16556 L16557 L16558 L16559 L16560 L16561 L16562 L16563 Small seal script s02381 s02382
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (large seal) and Xu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Characters in the same phonetic series (兆) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
	Old Chinese
挑	*l̥ʰaːw, *l̥ʰeːw, *l'eːwʔ
洮	*l̥ʰaːw, *l'aːw, *lew
桃	*l'aːw
逃	*l'aːw
咷	*l'aːw, *l̥ʰeːws
鼗	*l'aːw
鞉	*l'aːw
駣	*l'aːw, *l'aːwʔ, *l'aːws, *l'ewʔ
𣂁	*sl̥ʰew
脁	*l̥ʰews
晁	*l'ew
兆	*l'ewʔ
旐	*l'ewʔ
狣	*l'ewʔ
鮡	*l'ewʔ, *l'eːw
垗	*l'ewʔ
姚	*lew
珧	*lew
銚	*lew, *l̥ʰeːw, *l'eːws
恌	*lew, *l̥ʰeːw
烑	*lew
餆	*lew
筄	*lews
艞	*lews
佻	*l̥ʰeːw, *l'eːw
祧	*l̥ʰeːw
朓	*l̥ʰeːw, *l̥ʰeːwʔ
庣	*l̥ʰeːw
趒	*l̥ʰeːw, *l̥ʰeːws, *l'eːw
聎	*l̥ʰeːw
眺	*l̥ʰeːws
覜	*l̥ʰeːws
頫	*l̥ʰeːws, *poʔ
絩	*l̥ʰeːws
跳	*l̥ʰeːws, *l'eːw
窕	*l'eːwʔ
誂	*l'eːwʔ

Pictogram (象形) – the cracks in a shell during fortune-telling, an omen.

An autological character in oracle script: actual cracks in a shell signifying cracks.

Han character

兆 (radical 10 儿+4, 6 strokes, cangjie input 中一山人 (LMUO), four-corner 3211₃, composition ⿻儿⿰冫⿱丿丶)

1. omen
2. (China, Japan, Korea and Singapore) trillion (million million), tera-, 10¹²
3. (China) mega-
4. (Vietnam) million, mega-

Derived characters

• 逃 挑 旐 眺 桃

See also

• Chinese Numeral 兆

  Last: 亿, 億; Next: 京.

References

• KangXi: page 124, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1347
• Dae Jaweon: page 260, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 268, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5146

---

Chinese

simp. and trad.		兆

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhào (zhao⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄓㄠˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): siu⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): seu
• Min Nan (POJ): tiāu / tiǎu

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: zhào
    • Zhuyin: ㄓㄠˋ
    • Wade-Giles: chao⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jaw
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂɑʊ̯⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: siu⁶
    • Yale: siuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: siu⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: xiu⁶
    • IPA ^(key): /siːu̯²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: seu
    • Hakka Romanization System: seu
    • Hagfa Pinyim: seu⁴
    • IPA: /se̯u⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tiāu
    • Tâi-lô: tiāu
    • Phofsit Daibuun: diau
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tiaʊ²²/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tiaʊ²²/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tiaʊ³³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tiaʊ³³/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tiǎu
    • Tâi-lô: tiǎu
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tiaʊ²²/

---

• Middle Chinese: /ɖˠiᴇu^X/▼

Rime
Character	兆
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	澄 (11)
Final (韻)	宵 (92)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	Chongniu III
Fanqie	治小切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɖˠiᴇuX/
Pan Wuyun	/ɖᵚiɛuX/
Shao Rongfen	/ȡiæuX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɖiawX/
Li Rong	/ȡjɛuX/
Wang Li	/ȡĭɛuX/
Bernard Karlgren	/ȡʱi̯ɛuX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	zhào

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter-Sagart): /*lr[a]wʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*l'ewʔ/

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	兆
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	zhào
Middle Chinese	‹ drjewX ›
Old Chinese	/*lr[a]wʔ/
English	great number
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	兆
Reading #	1/1
No.	16856
Phonetic component	兆
Rime group	宵
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	肇
Old Chinese	/*l'ewʔ/

Definitions

兆

1. omen
2. (Obsolete in Mainland China) trillion (million million), tera-, 10¹²
3. (Taiwan) trillion, tera-, 10¹²
4. (China) (SI prefix) million, mega-, 10⁶

Synonyms

• 萬億 (number 10¹² in Mainland China)
• 太 (SI prefix tera- 10¹² in Mainland China)
• 百萬 (SI prefix mega- 10⁶ in Taiwan)

---

Japanese

Kanji

兆

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. portent
2. trillion, 10¹²
3. sign
4. omen
5. symptoms

Readings

• Goon: じょう (jō) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’on: ちょう (chō) < てう (teu)
• Kun: きざす (兆す, kizasu), きざし (兆し, kizashi)
• Nanori: とき (toki), よし (yoshi)

Compounds

• 兆候 (ちょうこう, chōkō) "symptom, indication"
• 兆民 (ちょうみん, chōmin), "everybody"
• 慶兆 (けいちょう, keichō) "auspicious omen"
• 吉兆（きっちょう, kisshō）"good omen, auspicious"
• 兆し (きざし, kizashi) "sign, omen"
• 凶兆 (きょうちょう, kyōchō), "ill omen, inauspicious"
• 億兆 (おくちょう, okuchō) "the masses, the people"
• 衰兆 (すいちょう, suichō) "signs of decline"
• 前兆 (ぜんちょう, zenchō), "harbinger"
• 瑞兆（ずいちょう, zuichō), "felicitous omen"

Number

兆 (ちょう, chō)

1. 10¹², (US) trillion, (UK) billion

---

Korean

Hanja

兆 • (jo) (hangeul 조, revised jo, McCune-Reischauer cho)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

兆 (triệu, diệu, điềm, giệu)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.