姓

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order (Japan)

Han character

姓 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 女竹手一 (VHQM), four-corner 4541₀, composition ⿰女生)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 259, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6178
• Dae Jaweon: page 524, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1037, character 12
• Unihan data for U+59D3

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Chinese

trad.		姓
simp. #		姓

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
猜	*sʰlɯː
輤	*sʰleːns
綪	*sʰleːns, *ʔsreːŋ
倩	*sʰleːns, *sʰleŋs
棈	*sʰleːns
蒨	*sʰeːns
篟	*sʰeːns
生	*sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs
牲	*sreŋ
笙	*sreŋ
甥	*sreŋ
鉎	*sreŋ, *sleːŋ
珄	*sreŋ
鼪	*sreŋ, *sreŋs
猩	*sreŋ, *seːŋ
狌	*sreŋ
眚	*sreŋʔ
貹	*sreŋs
崝	*zreːŋ
精	*ʔsleŋ, *ʔsleŋs
菁	*ʔsleŋ
鶄	*ʔsleŋ, *sʰleːŋ
蜻	*ʔsleŋ, *sʰleːŋ
鼱	*ʔsleŋ
婧	*ʔsleŋ, *zleŋs, *zleŋʔ
睛	*ʔsleŋ, *sʰleŋʔ
箐	*ʔsleŋ
聙	*ʔsleŋ
旌	*ʔsleŋ
清	*sʰleŋ
圊	*sʰleŋ
請	*sʰleŋʔ, *zleŋs, *zleŋ
凊	*sʰleŋs
䝼	*zleŋs, *zleŋ
靚	*zleŋs
情	*zleŋ
晴	*zleŋ
夝	*zleŋ
靜	*zleŋʔ
靖	*zleŋʔ
睲	*seŋʔ, *seːŋs
惺	*seŋʔ, *seːŋ
性	*sleŋs
姓	*sleŋs
靗	*l̥ʰeŋs
鯖	*ʔljeŋ, *sʰleːŋ
青	*sʰleːŋ
靘	*sʰleːŋ, *sʰleːŋs
掅	*sʰleːŋs
胜	*sleːŋ
曐	*sleːŋ
星	*sleːŋ
鮏	*sleːŋ
腥	*seːŋ, *seːŋs
鯹	*seːŋ
醒	*seːŋ, *seːŋʔ, *seːŋs
篂	*seːŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sleŋs) : semantic 女 (“woman; female”) + phonetic 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs).

Etymology

Specialised form of 性 (xìng): “human nature; what is inborn” > “surname; clan name”.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 姓

1. surname; family name; clan name

   Template:zh-ant

   你的姓怎麼拼寫？ [MSC, trad.]
   你的姓怎么拼写？ [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ de xìng zěnme pīnxiě? [Pinyin]

   How do you spell your last name?

   您貴姓？／您贵姓？  ―  Nín guìxìng?  ―  What is your surname? [honorific]

2. to have the surname of

   我姓陳。／我姓陈。  ―  Wǒ xìng Chén.  ―  My surname is Chen.

3. a surname

References

• “Entry #3781”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

姓

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. clan
2. surname

Readings

• Go-on: しょう (shō, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せい (sei, Jōyō)
• Kun: かばね (kabane, 姓)

Compounds

Compounds

• 姓氏(しょうじ) (shōji)
• 姓氏(せいし) (seishi)
• 姓階(せいかい)制度(せいど) (seikaiseido)
• 姓族(せいぞく) (seizoku)
• 姓名(せいめい) (seimei)
• 五姓(ごしょう) (goshō)
• 四姓(ししょう) (shishō)
• 素姓(すじょう), 種姓(すじょう) (sujō)
• 俗姓(ぞくしょう) (zokushō)
• 百姓(ひゃくしょう) (hyakushō)
• 異姓(いせい) (isei)
• 易姓(えきせい) (ekisei)
• 改姓(かいせい) (kaisei)
• 外姓(がいせい) (gaisei)
• 下姓(かせい) (kasei)
• 旧姓(きゅうせい) (kyūsei)
• 現姓(げんせい) (gensei)
• 国姓(こくせい) (kokusei)
• 三姓(さんせい) (sansei)
• 四種姓(ししゅせい) (shishusei)
• 四姓(しせい) (shisei)
• 氏姓(しせい) (shisei)
• 賜姓(しせい) (shisei)
• 俗姓(ぞくせい) (zokusei)
• 他姓(たせい) (tasei)
• 同姓(どうせい) (dōsei)
• 万姓(ばんせい) (bansei)
• 百姓(ひゃくせい) (hyakusei)
• 複姓(ふくせい) (fukusei)
• 別姓(べっせい) (bessei)
• 本姓(ほんせい) (honsei)
• 五姓田(ごせだ) (Goseda)
• 百姓(おおみたから) (ōmitakara)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
姓
かばね Grade: S
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese.

Ultimate derivation unclear. Some theories derive this as a Japanese compound of 株 (kabu, “stock, root”) + 根 (ne, “root, origin”) or 名 (na, “name”). However, the required /u/ → /a/ sound shift would be unusual.

Another thought is that this might be a borrowing from, or somehow otherwise related to, Korean 골품 (golpum), a Sino-Korean term also spelled 骨品 (literally “bones + goods”), the name for a kind of kinship hierarchy that was prevalent in the Silla kingdom. This latter theory and its related “bone” sense might also account for the homophony with 屍 (kabane, “corpse, dead body”).

Noun

姓(かばね) • (kabane) 

1. a clan

   Synonym: 氏 (uji)

2. (historical) a kind of hereditary title bestowed to clans in ancient Japan

Derived terms

• 姓(かばね)書(がき) (kabane-gaki): (historical) someone's full name, written out with the status of their clan appended
• 姓(かばね)名(な) (kabane na, “clan name”)
• 八色(やくさ)の姓(かばね) (Yakusa no Kabane), 八色(はっしき)の姓(かばね) (Hasshiki no Kabane): a specific set of eight kabane titles promulgated by Emperor Tenmu in 675 CE

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
姓
せい Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 姓 (MC sjengH). The kan'on, so likely a later borrowing. Compare modern Min Nan reading sèⁿ.

Noun

姓(せい) • (sei) 

1. surname, family name
2. clan

Derived terms

• 八姓(はっせい) (hassei)

Idioms

• 姓(せい)を冒(おか)す (sei o okasu): to be adopted by a different clan; to take on a different surname

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
姓
しょう Grade: S
on'yomi

/siau/ → /ɕjɔː/ → /ɕoː/

From Middle Chinese 姓 (MC sjengH). The goon, so likely the initial borrowing. Compare modern Hakka reading siang.

This reading is less common than sei above.

Noun

姓(しょう) • (shō) ^{←しやう (syau)?}

1. (uncommon) surname, family name
2. (uncommon) clan

Derived terms

• 上姓(じょうしょう) (jōshō)
• 下姓(げしょう) (geshō)
• 小姓(こしょう) (koshō)

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term
姓
しょう > そう Grade: S
irregular

A shift from shō above to use the 直音 (chokuon, “"straight" pronunciation”, dropping out any /j/ or /w/ glides).

This reading is not used in modern Japanese, and is only found in historical texts, such as the Utsubo Monogatari from the late 900s.

Noun

姓(そう) • (sō) 

1. (historical, obsolete) surname, family name
2. (historical, obsolete) clan

Further reading

• Etymology at Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)

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Korean

Hanja

姓 • (seong) (hangeul 성)

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

(deprecated template usage) 姓 (tính)

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