天
| ||||||||
Translingual[edit]
| Stroke order | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
Han character[edit]
天 (Kangxi radical 37, 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一大 (MK), four-corner 10430, composition ⿱一大)
Derived characters[edit]
- 迗, 𣏿, 祆, 䀖, 䚶, 𠇄, 𠕹, 矢, 关, 吴, 昊, 奏, 癸, 龑(䶮), 𡗶, 吞, 㤁, 昋, 沗, 蚕, 奣, 䨿, 䪞, 鴌, 𠔬, 䵡, 䗞, 䘉
- 𠍴, 㴁, 𣷹, 㵄, 蝅, 蠺
Descendants[edit]
- て (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)
- テ (Katakana character derived from Man'yōgana)
References[edit]
- KangXi: page 248, character 4
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5833
- Dae Jaweon: page 500, character 2
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 522, character 1
- Unihan data for U+5929
Chinese[edit]
| simp. and trad. |
天 | |
|---|---|---|
| alternative forms | ||
Glyph origin[edit]
| Historical forms of the character 天 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shang | Western Zhou | Spring and Autumn | Warring States | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) | ||||
| Bronze inscriptions | Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Bronze inscriptions | Chu slip and silk script | Qin slip script | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A top line representing the level above a man with outstretched arms (大 (dà)). Ancient representations of the character depicted a man with a large head, an anthropomorphic representation of heaven.
Original meaning of the word is “sky”. Such concept is difficult to depict with a pictogram, hence the current form. Perhaps influenced by the glyph, the character was frequently glossed in Old Chinese documents with 顛 (“crown of the head”), and such had led to incorrect hypotheses which regarded 天 (tiān) as a derivation of 顛 or 巔, “top (of the head/hill)”.
Etymology[edit]
This character was previously reconstructed to have a /*tʰ/-initial in Old Chinese, but this hypothesis has been largely discounted in recent reconstructions, in light of evidence from early Chinese accounts of dialectal pronunciations, transcription of other languages, as well as cognate/derived characters within Chinese, which has all pointed to a voiceless resonant initial /*l̥-/ in Old Chinese. According to chapter 1 of Shiming, by c. 200 CE, this initial had already produced dialectal variation in the pronunciation: People in central-western China pronounced it with the back of the tongue, like 顯 (MC henX), while people in eastern China pronounced it with the tip of the tongue, like 坦 (MC tʰɑnX). An old northwestern dialect variant survives as 祆 (MC hen, “God of the Zoroastrians”), and the word 天竺 (MC tʰen ʈɨuk̚, “India”) was used to transcribe Old Persian *Hind-uka ("India").
Further etymology is unknown. During the time when this term was reconstructed with a /*tʰ-/ initial, it was frequently compared with tengri, the name for God in early Turkic and Mongolic peoples' languages. This now appears unlikely. The only certain external cognate is the Central Bai (a language closely related to Chinese) word heinl (“sky, heaven”) /xẽ⁵⁵/. Chen (1998) proposes cognation with 祁連 (OC *g'ieg-lian) and 赫連 (OC *khak-lian), transcriptions of a Xiongnu word for "sky", which he also relates to 昊天 (OC *g'ôg-hlin).
Pronunciation[edit]
Definitions[edit]
天
- sky; heavens; heavenly; celestial
- (mythology or religion) heaven as the abode of the gods or the blessed departed; heavenly.
- (mythology or religion) Heaven as an impersonal deity, often translated as God.
- top; overhead
- weather; climate
- day (24 hours)
- † day (as opposed to night)
- 白天 ― báitiān ― daytime
- † season
- nature
- natural; innate
Synonyms[edit]
Compounds[edit]
See 天/derived terms § Chinese.
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- “天”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
- Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00849
Japanese[edit]
Kanji[edit]
Readings[edit]
- Go-on: てん (ten, Jōyō)
- Kan-on: てん (ten, Jōyō)
- Kun: あま (ama, 天, Jōyō †); あめ (ame, 天, Jōyō)
- Nanori: かみ (kami); そら (sora); た (ta); たか (taka); たかし (takashi); なま (nama); て (te); あき (aki); あも (amo)
Compounds[edit]
See 天/derived terms § Japanese.
Etymology 1[edit]
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 天 |
| あま Grade: 1 |
| kun’yomi |
From Old Japanese. A bound form only appearing in compounds.[1][2] Compare the formation of 目 (ma, bound form in compounds) and 目 (me, standalone form), 手 (ta, bound form in compounds) and 手 (te, standalone form).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
- (archaic) the sky, the heavens
- the area above a kitchen stove:
- where the smoke collects in an old kitchen using a wood-burning stove
- a shelf or shelves above the stove
- (archaic) heaven
Etymology 2[edit]
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 天 |
| あめ Grade: 1 |
| kun’yomi |
⟨ame2⟩ → */aməj/ → /ame/
From Old Japanese as a sound shift from ama above.[1] Likely derived by fusion of ama + い (i, emphatic nominative particle), similar to the derivation of other words such as 神 (kami, from kamu + i), 目 (me, from ma + i), etc.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
Idioms[edit]
- 天に跼り地に蹐む (ame ni sekagamari tsuchi ni nukiashinifumu), 天に跼り地に蹐む (ame ni segukumari tsuchi ninukiashinifumu): “in heaven, bow and step carefully on the ground” → to be humble and respectful in heaven
Etymology 3[edit]
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 天 |
| てん Grade: 1 |
| on’yomi |
From Middle Chinese 天 (MC tʰen, “sky; heavens”). Compare modern Mandarin reading tiān.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
- the sky, the heavens
- heaven
- (Buddhist god) a deva or devi
- (metaphorically) the gods, providence, fate
- 天の与え
- ten no atae
- gift from the gods
- 天の与え
Idioms[edit]
Affix[edit]
References[edit]
Korean[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle Chinese 天 (MC tʰen).
| Historical Readings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dongguk Jeongun Reading | ||
| Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 | 텬 (Yale: thyèn) | |
| Middle Korean | ||
| Text | Eumhun | |
| Gloss (hun) | Reading | |
| Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[2] | 하ᄂᆞᆯ〮 (Yale: hànól) | 텬 (Yale: thyèn) |
Pronunciation[edit]
- (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [t͡ɕʰʌ̹n]
- Phonetic hangul: [천]
Hanja[edit]
天 (eumhun 하늘 천 (haneul cheon))
Compounds[edit]
References[edit]
- 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]
Vietnamese[edit]
Han character[edit]
天: Hán Việt readings: thiên[1][2][3]
天: Nôm readings: thiên[1][2][3], thiêng[1]
Compounds[edit]
See 天/derived terms § Vietnamese.
References[edit]
- CJK Unified Ideographs block
- Han script characters
- Translingual lemmas
- Translingual symbols
- Han characters from which hiragana were derived
- Han characters from which katakana were derived
- Mandarin terms with audio links
- Cantonese terms with audio links
- Middle Chinese lemmas
- Old Chinese lemmas
- Chinese lemmas
- Mandarin lemmas
- Dungan lemmas
- Cantonese lemmas
- Taishanese lemmas
- Gan lemmas
- Hakka lemmas
- Jin lemmas
- Min Bei lemmas
- Min Dong lemmas
- Min Nan lemmas
- Teochew lemmas
- Wu lemmas
- Xiang lemmas
- Chinese nouns
- Mandarin nouns
- Dungan nouns
- Cantonese nouns
- Taishanese nouns
- Gan nouns
- Hakka nouns
- Jin nouns
- Min Bei nouns
- Min Dong nouns
- Min Nan nouns
- Teochew nouns
- Wu nouns
- Xiang nouns
- Chinese adjectives
- Mandarin adjectives
- Dungan adjectives
- Cantonese adjectives
- Taishanese adjectives
- Gan adjectives
- Hakka adjectives
- Jin adjectives
- Min Bei adjectives
- Min Dong adjectives
- Min Nan adjectives
- Teochew adjectives
- Wu adjectives
- Xiang adjectives
- Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Chinese hanzi
- Chinese Han characters
- Mandarin terms with usage examples
- zh:Mythology
- zh:Religion
- Chinese terms with obsolete senses
- Beginning Mandarin
- zh:Nature
- zh:Time
- Japanese Han characters
- Grade 1 kanji
- Japanese kanji with kun reading あま
- Japanese kanji with kun reading あめ
- Japanese kanji with kan'on reading てん
- Japanese kanji with goon reading てん
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading かみ
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading そら
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading た
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading たか
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading たかし
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading なま
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading て
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading あき
- Japanese kanji with nanori reading あも
- Japanese terms spelled with 天 read as あま
- Japanese terms read with kun'yomi
- Japanese terms inherited from Old Japanese
- Japanese terms derived from Old Japanese
- Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Japanese lemmas
- Japanese nouns
- Japanese terms spelled with first grade kanji
- Japanese terms written with one Han script character
- Japanese terms spelled with 天
- Japanese terms with archaic senses
- Japanese terms spelled with 天 read as あめ
- Japanese terms spelled with 天 read as てん
- Japanese terms read with on'yomi
- Japanese terms derived from Middle Chinese
- Japanese terms with usage examples
- Japanese affixes
- Japanese short forms
- Korean terms derived from Middle Chinese
- Korean lemmas
- Korean Han characters
- Vietnamese Han tu
- Vietnamese lemmas
- Vietnamese Han characters
- Vietnamese Nom