司

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

司 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 尸一口 (SMR), four-corner 1762₀, composition ⿹𠃌𠮛)

Derived characters

• 伺 詞 (词)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 174, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3257
• Dae Jaweon: page 385, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 572, character 8
• Unihan data for U+53F8

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		司

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 司
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (司) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
司	*slɯ
伺	*slɯ, *slɯs
覗	*slɯ, *slɯs
笥	*slɯ, *slɯs
詞	*ljɯ
祠	*ljɯ
柌	*ljɯ
嗣	*ljɯs
孠	*ljɯs
飼	*ljɯs
呞	*hljɯ

Unknown.

Shuowen: 后 flipped.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *zə; cognate with Proto-Kukish */ca/, Mru caŋ (“to do, to make”), & Tibetan [script needed] (mdzad.pa), [script needed] (mdzod), from underlying */m-za-t/ "to do, to act", possibly also related to [script needed] (bzo, “work, labour”) (Schuessler, 2007).̈Schuessler ddisputes Löffler (1966)'s proposed connection to 乍 (OC *zraːɡs, “to do, work, make”) due to phonological difficulties.

Unger (1984) posits a possible relationship with Tibetan [script needed] (rdzi.po, “herdsman”)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sī (si¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄙ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si¹
• Eastern Min (BUC): sṳ̆ / sĭ
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): sir / su / si / sai

  (Teochew, Peng'im): si¹

• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ¹sy

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sī
    • Zhuyin: ㄙ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sih
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ¹
    • Yale: sz̄
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sy
    • Palladius: сы (sy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: si¹
    • Yale: sī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː⁵⁵/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: sṳ̆ / sĭ
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sy⁵⁵/, /si⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sir
    • Tâi-lô: sir
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sɯ³³/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: su
    • Tâi-lô: su
    • Phofsit Daibuun: sw
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /su⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: si
    • Tâi-lô: si
    • Phofsit Daibuun: sy
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /si⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /si³³/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sai
    • Tâi-lô: sai
    • Phofsit Daibuun: say
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /sai⁴⁴/

Note:

• sir/su - literary;
• si/sai - vernacular.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: si¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: si
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /si³³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ¹sy
    • MiniDict: sy^平
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹sr
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /sz̩⁵³/

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• Middle Chinese: si

Rime
Character	司
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	心 (16)
Final (韻)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	息兹切
Baxter	si
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/sɨ/
Pan Wuyun	/sɨ/
Shao Rongfen	/sie/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/sɨ/
Li Rong	/siə/
Wang Li	/sĭə/
Bernard Karlgren	/si/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	sī
Expected Cantonese Reflex	si1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*s-lə/

  (Zhengzhang): /*slɯ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	司
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	sī
Middle Chinese	‹ si ›
Old Chinese	/*s-lə/
English	superintend
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	司
Reading #	1/1
No.	11951
Phonetic component	司
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	思
Old Chinese	/*slɯ/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 司

1. to take charge of; to control; to manage
2. officer; official
3. a surname

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Japanese

Kanji

司

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. boss

Readings

• Go-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: す (su)
• On: じ (ji)
• Kun: つかさ (tsukasa, 司); つかさどる (tsukasadoru, 司る); みこともち (mikotomochi, 司)

Compounds

• 司(し)令(れい) (shirei)
• 司(し)会(かい) (shikai)
• 司(し)書(しょ) (shisho)
• 司(し)法(ほう) (shihō)
• 寿司(すし) (sushi): sushi
• 行(ぎょう)司(じ) (gyōji)

 

Proper noun

Kanji in this term
司
つかさ Grade: 4
kun’yomi

司(つかさ) • (Tsukasa) 

1. a male given name
2. a surname

Kanji in this term
司
まもる Grade: 4

司(まもる) • (Mamoru) 

1. a male given name

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Korean

Hanja

司 • (sa) (hangeul 사, revised sa, McCune–Reischauer sa)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

司: Hán Nôm readings: ti, tư, tơ

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