寡

Translingual

Han character

寡 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+11, 14 strokes, cangjie input 十一金竹 (JMCH), four-corner 3022₇, composition ⿳宀頁刀)

Derived characters

• 𠏶, 𭄖

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 290, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7286
• Dae Jaweon: page 574, character 26
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 947, character 7
• Unihan data for U+5BE1

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		寡
alternative forms		𠆣

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 寡
Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script

In the bronze script from the Western Zhou period, it was originally an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 宀 (“house”) + 頁 (“head”) — only one person in the house; alone.

In the bronze script from the Warring States period, two decorative strokes were added around 頁. The seal script found in Shuowen adds two additional strokes, making the component under 宀 appear as 分 and 頁, leading Shuowen to erroneously interpret the character as an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 宀 (“house”) + 頒 (“to distribute”).

Etymology

Related to 鰥 (OC *kruːn, *kruːns, “widower”), 孤 (OC *kʷaː, “orphan; alone”) (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with Tibetan དགོན་པ (dgon pa, “solitary place; desert; wilderness”), Tibetan སྒོས (sgos, “private; individual”).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 寡

1. few; scant
2. widowed
3. widow
4. alone; friendless
5. tasteless

   淨係食菜好似寡咗啲喎。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   净系食菜好似寡咗啲㖞。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   zing⁶ hai⁶ sik⁶ coi³ hou² ci⁵ gwaa² zo² di¹ wo³. [Jyutping]

   It's kind of tasteless to eat vegetables only.

6. (Hokkien) some

   我去菜市仔買寡青菜。 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
   我去菜市仔买寡青菜。 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

   Góa khì chhài-chhī-á bé kóa chheⁿ-chhài. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   I'm going to the market to buy some vegetables.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 寡婦 (“widow”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		寡, 寡婦, 寡妻, 嫠, 嫠婦, 孀, 孀妻, 孀婦, 遺孀, 孤孀, 孤嫠, 寡嫠
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		寡婦, 孤孀
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	寡婦, 半邊人兒, 半邊人
	Taiwan	寡婦
	Ulanhot	寡婦
	Tongliao	寡婦
	Chifeng	寡婦
	Hulunbuir (Hailar)	寡婦
	Harbin	寡婦
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	寡婦
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	寡婦兒
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	寡婦
	Wanrong	寡婦
	Xi'an	寡婦
	Xining	寡婦
	Sokuluk (Gansu Dungan)	女寡婦
	Masanchin (Shaanxi Dungan)	女寡婦
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	寡婦
	Bayanhot	寡婦
	Lanzhou	寡婦
	Ürümqi	寡婦
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	寡母子, 寡母兒, 寡婦
	Wuhan	寡婦
	Guiyang	寡婆, 寡婦
	Guilin	寡婦
	Guanyang	寡婆子
	Liuzhou	寡母婆, 寡婦婆, 寡婦
	Dagudi (Maliba)	寡婦
	Reshuitang (Longling)	寡婦婆
	Mae Salong (Lancang)	老寡婦
	Mae Sai (Tengchong)	寡婦
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	寡婦
	Yangzhou	半邊人, 寡婦
	Xinghua	半邊人
	Hefei	寡婦
Cantonese	Guangzhou	寡母婆, 寡婆
	Hong Kong	寡母婆
	Hong Kong (San Tin Weitou)	寡婦婆
	Hong Kong (Ting Kok)	守寡婆
	Hong Kong (Tung Ping Chau)	守寡婆
	Taishan	寡婆
	Dongguan	守寡婆
	Yangjiang	寡婦婆
	Xinyi	寡母婆
	Hepu (Lianzhou)	寡母婆
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	寡母婆
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	寡婦
Gan	Nanchang	寡婦, 半邊人
	Lichuan	寡婦
	Pingxiang	寡婦, 寡婦婆
Hakka	Meixian	寡婦
	Yudu	寡婦婆
	Hong Kong	守寡婆
	Sabah (Longchuan)	寡婦婆
	Senai (Huiyang)	守寡婆
Huizhou	Jixi	寡婦, 寡婦老嫗
Jin	Taiyuan	寡婦
	Xinzhou	寡婦, 守寡哩
	Taibus (Baochang)	寡婦
	Linhe	寡婦
	Jining	寡婦
	Hohhot	寡婦
	Baotou	寡婦
	Dongsheng	寡婦
	Haibowan	寡婦
Northern Min	Jian'ou	守寡嫲
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	孀居儂, 孀居
Southern Min	Xiamen	守寡儂, 守寡的, 守寡查某
	Quanzhou	守寡儂
	Zhangzhou	守寡儂
	Chaozhou	守寡個
	Shantou	寡婦
	Bangkok (Teochew)	寡婦
	Chiang Mai (Teochew)	寡婦
	Hat Yai (Teochew)	寡婦
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	寡婦
	Wenchang	守節
	Haikou	死老公個
Zhongshan Min	Sanxiang	寡婆
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	寡母婆
Wu	Shanghai	孤孀, 寡婦
	Shanghai (Chongming)	寡婦, 單邊人
	Suzhou	孤孀
	Wuxi	寡婦
	Danyang	寡婦
	Hangzhou	寡婦
	Ningbo	孤孀老𡢿, 孤孀
	Wenzhou	守寡老人兒, 守寡老安人, 單邊人
	Jinhua	寡婦
Xiang	Changsha	寡婦
	Loudi	寡婦
	Shuangfeng	單身寡婦, 寡婦

Dialectal synonyms of 些 (“some, a few”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		些
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	些
	Singapore	些
Cantonese	Guangzhou	啲
	Hong Kong	啲
	Taishan	尼
	Singapore (Guangfu)	啲
Hakka	Meixian	兜
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	兜
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	兜
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	兜
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	兜
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	兜
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	兜
Southern Min	Xiamen	寡
	Zhangzhou	寡
	Tainan	寡
	Singapore (Hokkien)	寡
	Manila (Hokkien)	寡
	Shantou	撮
	Jieyang	撮
	Singapore (Teochew)	撮
Wu	Shanghai	眼, 點, 些 formal or Mandarin-influenced
	Wenzhou	厘兒

Further reading

• “Entry #10471”, 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.

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Japanese

Kanji

寡

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: け (ke)
• Kan-on: か (ka, Jōyō)
• Kun: やもめ (yamome, 寡); すくない (sukunai, 寡ない)

Compounds

• (widow, alone): 寡夫, 寡婦, 鰥寡孤独
• (few, minority): 寡占, 寡頭政治, 寡聞, 寡兵, 寡黙, 衆寡

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
寡
か Grade: S
kan’on

Noun

寡(か) • (ka) 

1. minority

   寡(か)を以(も)って衆(しゅう)を制(せい)する

   ka o motte shū o seisuru

   Majority can be conquered by minority.

Antonyms

• 衆(しゅう) (shū, “majority”)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
寡
やもめ Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative forms

• 寡婦
• 孀

Noun

寡(やもめ) • (yamome) 

1. widow

Derived terms

• 男寡(おとこやもめ) (otokoyamome, “widower”)

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Korean

Hanja

寡 • (gwa) (hangeul 과, revised gwa, McCune–Reischauer kwa)

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) 寡 (quả, goá)

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