口

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
See also: ロ (katakana), ㅁ (hangul), and 囗 (wéi)
口 U+53E3, 口
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-53E3
← 叢
[U+53E2]		 CJK Unified Ideographs 古 →
[U+53E4]

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
口-order.gif

Usage notes[edit]

This character (口) is used within characters; if a square is instead used as an enclosure (around) a character, then the character 囗 is used instead.

Han character[edit]

Commons-logo.svg
See images of
Radical 30 口

口 (radical 30 口+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 口 (R), four-corner 60000)

  1. Kangxi radical #30, ⼝.
  2. Shuōwén Jiězì radical №22

Derived characters[edit]

References[edit]

  • KangXi: page 171, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3227
  • Dae Jaweon: page 379, character 17
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 566, character 14
  • Unihan data for U+53E3

Chinese[edit]

simp. and trad.
 口
alt. forms 𠙵
𠮚

Glyph origin[edit]

Historical forms of the character 口
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
口-oracle.svg 口-bronze.svg 口-silk.svg 口-bigseal.svg 口-seal.svg
Characters in the same phonetic series (口) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
口 kʰoːʔ
叩 kʰoːʔ
扣 kʰoːʔ, *kʰoːs
釦 kʰoːʔ
筘 kʰoːs

Pictogram (象形) – resembles an open mouth.

Pronunciation[edit]

Note:
  • kou2 - vernacular;
  • kou3 - literary.
Note:
  • kháu - vernacular;
  • káu - vernacular (limited, e.g. 啞口);
  • khó͘/khió - literary.
  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 口
Mandarin Beijing /kʰou²¹⁴/
Harbin /kʰou²¹³/
Tianjin /kʰou¹³/
Jinan /kʰou⁵⁵/
Qingdao /kʰou⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /kʰou⁵³/
Xi'an /kʰou⁵³/
Xining /kʰɯ⁵³/
Yinchuan /kʰəu⁵³/
Lanzhou /kʰou⁴⁴²/
Ürümqi /kʰɤu⁵¹/
Wuhan /kʰəu⁴²/
Chengdu /kʰəu⁵³/
Guiyang /kʰəu⁴²/
Kunming /kʰəu⁵³/
Nanjing /kʰəɯ²¹²/
Hefei /kʰɯ²⁴/
Jin Taiyuan /kʰəu⁵³/
Pingyao /kʰəu¹³/
Hohhot /kʰəu⁵³/
Wu Shanghai /kʰɤ³⁵/
Suzhou /kʰɤ⁵¹/
Hangzhou /kʰø⁵³/
Wenzhou /kʰau³⁵/
Hui Shexian /kʰiu³⁵/
Tunxi /t͡ɕʰiu³¹/
Xiang Changsha /kʰəu⁴¹/
Xiangtan /kʰəɯ⁴²/
Gan Nanchang /kʰiɛu²¹³/
Hakka Meixian /kʰeu³¹/
Taoyuan /kʰeu³¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /hɐu³⁵/
Nanning /hɐu³⁵/
Hong Kong /hɐu³⁵/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /kʰɔ⁵³/
/kʰau⁵³/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /kʰau³²/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /kʰe²¹/
Shantou (Min Nan) /kʰau⁵³/
Haikou (Min Nan) /xɔu²¹³/
/xau²¹³/
Rime
Character 口
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 溪 (29)
Final (韻) 侯 (137)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 苦后切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kʰəuX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kʰəuX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /kʰəuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kʰəwX/
Li
Rong		 /kʰuX/
Wang
Li		 /kʰəuX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /kʰə̯uX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 kǒu
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 口
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 kǒu
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ khuwX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*kʰˤ(r)oʔ/
English mouth

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 口
Reading # 1/1
No. 7490
Phonetic
component		 口
Rime
group		 侯
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 口
Old
Chinese		 /*kʰoːʔ/

Definitions[edit]

口

  1. (anatomy) mouth (Classifier: 把 c)
    漱漱你的口。  ―  Shù shù nǐ de kǒu.  ―  Rinse your mouth out.
  2. entrance; opening; mouth (of an object)
    入口  ―  rùkǒu  ―  entrance
    出口  ―  chūkǒu  ―  exit
  3. hole; cut
    口子  ―  kǒuzi  ―  hole
    傷口 / 伤口  ―  shāngkǒu  ―  wound
  4. government organ; department
  5. Classifier for family members, populations and guns.
  6. Classifier for bites or mouthfuls.
    我可以吃一口嗎？ / 我可以吃一口吗？  ―  Wǒ kěyǐ chī yī kǒu ma?  ―  Can I have a bite?

Synonyms[edit]

Dialectal synonyms of 嘴 (“mouth”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 口
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 嘴
Mandarin Beijing 嘴
Taiwan 嘴
Tianjin 嘴
Jinan 嘴
Xi'an 嘴
Wuhan 嘴、嘴巴、嘴巴子
Chengdu 嘴巴
Yangzhou 嘴、嘴巴子
Hefei 嘴
Cantonese Guangzhou 嘴、口
Yangjiang 嘴、口
Gan Nanchang 嘴巴
Hakka Meixian 嘴
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 嘴
Liudui (S. Sixian) 嘴
Hsinchu (Hailu) 嘴
Dongshi (Dabu) 嘴
Zhuolan (Raoping) 嘴
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 嘴
Jin Taiyuan 嘴
Min Bei Jian'ou 喙
Min Dong Fuzhou 喙
Min Nan Xiamen 喙
Quanzhou 喙
Zhangzhou 喙
Taipei 喙
Kaohsiung 喙
Chaozhou 喙
Wu Suzhou 嘴
Wenzhou 嘴、嘴嘴
Xiang Changsha 嘴巴、嘴巴子
Shuangfeng 嘴巴

Compounds[edit]

Derived terms from 口

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

口

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings[edit]

Compounds[edit]

Terms derived from 口

Etymology 1[edit]

Kanji in this term
口
くつ
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

/kutu/ → /kut͡su/

From Old Japanese. Appears in compound terms listed in the Wamyō Ruijushō of 938 CE.

The ancient combining form of modern reading kuchi.[1] Likely the original form.

No longer productive in modern Japanese. Only found in older compounds.

There are interesting potential phonetic and semantic overlaps with Middle Chinese 窟 (MC kʰuət̚, “hole; cave”), 口 (MC kʰəuX, “mouth; opening; hole”); Korean 굳 (gut), 굿 (gut, “hole; hollow; cavity”); possibly even Ainu クㇳ (kut), クッチ (kutchi, “throat”). One possibility is that these represent prehistoric nativized borrowings from Chinese. However, there is yet no clear evidence of relatedness.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Kun’yomi
    • IPA(key): [kɯ̟ᵝt͡sɨᵝ]
  • The pitch accent is derived from the entire compound word.

Noun[edit]

口 (hiragana くつ, rōmaji kutsu)

  1. mouth
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms

Etymology 2[edit]

Kanji in this term
口
くち
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

*/kutu i/ → /kuti/ → /kut͡ɕi/

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.[2]

Shift from kutu above, probably by fusion with ancient nominal particle い (i). Compare the phonetic development of 神 (kami, “spirit, god”) from kamu + i, 木 (ki, “tree”) from ko + i, 目 (me, “eye”) from ma + i.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

口 (hiragana くち, rōmaji kuchi)

  1. mouth
  2. opening
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms

Etymology 3[edit]

Kanji in this term
口
く
Grade: 1
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 口 (MC kʰəuX). The goon, so likely the initial borrowing.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

口 (hiragana く, rōmaji ku)

  1. (Buddhism) the mouth
  2. (Buddhism) (by extension) one's speech, one's words
  3. the mouthpiece of a flute

Counter[edit]

口 (hiragana く, rōmaji -ku)

  1. used to count people
  2. used to count per-person portions
  3. used to count open-mouthed containers
  4. used to count bladed weapons or tools

Etymology 4[edit]

Kanji in this term
口
こう
Grade: 1
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 口 (MC kʰəuX). The kan'on, so likely a later borrowing.

Pronunciation[edit]

Counter[edit]

口 (hiragana こう, rōmaji -kō)

  1. used to count people
  2. used to count bladed weapons or tools

References[edit]

  1. ^ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. ^ c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3532), text here
  3. ^ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  4. ^ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

口 • (gu)

  • Eumhun:
    • Sound (hangeul): 구 (McCune-Reischauer: ku)
    • Name (hangeul): 입 (revised: ip, McCune-Reischauer: ip)
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Compounds[edit]

References[edit]

Okinawan[edit]

Kanji[edit]

口

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

口 (hiragana ぐち, romaji guchi)

  1. language
  2. dialect
  3. speech

Compounds[edit]

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

口 (khẩu)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=口&oldid=47731947"