寸

See also: 手 and 吋

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

寸 (Kangxi radical 41, 寸+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 木戈 (DI), four-corner 4030₀, composition ⿹𬺰丶)

1. Kangxi radical #41, ⼨.

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/寸
• 付 村 討

Descendants

• す

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 293, character 32
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7411
• Dae Jaweon: page 581, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 503, character 8
• Unihan data for U+5BF8

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		寸

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 寸
Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
村	*sʰuːn
忖	*sʰuːnʔ
刌	*sʰuːnʔ
寸	*sʰuːns

Ideogram (指事) – a position on the forearm where the pulse can be palpated by compressing the radial artery. It is called 寸口 in modern Chinese and the meaning of a unit of measurement is derived from the distance between the wrist and this position. Compare 又, 手, 九, 爪.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): cùn (cun⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄘㄨㄣˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): cyun³
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): chhun
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): chhùn / chhǹg

  (Teochew, Peng'im): cung³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: cùn
    • Zhuyin: ㄘㄨㄣˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cùn
    • Wade–Giles: tsʻun⁴
    • Yale: tswùn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsuenn
    • Palladius: цунь (cunʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰu̯ən⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: cyun³
    • Yale: chyun
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsyn³
    • Guangdong Romanization: qun³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰyːn³³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: chhun
    • Hakka Romanization System: cun
    • Hagfa Pinyim: cun⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /t͡sʰun⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhùn
    • Tâi-lô: tshùn
    • Phofsit Daibuun: zhuxn
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /t͡sʰun⁴¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /t͡sʰun¹¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Kaohsiung): /t͡sʰun²¹/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhǹg
    • Tâi-lô: tshǹg
    • Phofsit Daibuun: zhngx
    • IPA (Xiamen): /t͡sʰŋ̍²¹/

Note:

• chhùn - literary;
• chhǹg - vernacular.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: cung³
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tshùng
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰuŋ²¹³/

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• Middle Chinese: tshwonH

Rime
Character	寸
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	清 (14)
Final (韻)	魂 (55)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	倉困切
Baxter	tshwonH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡sʰuənH/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡sʰuonH/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡sʰuənH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/t͡sʰwənH/
Li Rong	/t͡sʰuənH/
Wang Li	/t͡sʰuənH/
Bernard Karlgren	/t͡sʰuənH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	cùn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	cyun3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[tsʰ]ˤu[n]-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*sʰuːns/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	寸
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	cùn
Middle Chinese	‹ tshwonH ›
Old Chinese	/*[tsʰ]ˁu[n]-s/
English	thumb; inch
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	寸
Reading #	1/1
No.	1913
Phonetic component	寸
Rime group	文
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	寸
Old Chinese	/*sʰuːns/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 寸

1. (units of measure) A cun or Chinese inch, a traditional unit of length of about 3 cm.
   1. (Mainland China) Short for 市寸 (shìcùn).
   2. (Hong Kong) Legally defined as the tsun of 3.71475 cm.
2. (informal) Short for 英寸 (yīngcùn, “inch”).
3. (figurative) very short or little
4. (traditional Chinese medicine) cunkou pulse; radial artery pulse at the wrist
5. (Mandarin, colloquial) coincidental; unbelievable; opportune
6. a surname

Coordinate terms

• 分 (fēn, “¹⁄₁₀ cun”)
• 尺 (chǐ, “10 cun”)

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 寸 – see 忖 (“to ponder; to speculate; to think; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 忖).

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

寸

(Sixth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. measurement

Readings

• Go-on: すん (sun, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: そん (son)
• Kun: はかる (hakaru, 寸る); とき (toki); き (ki)
• Nanori: す (su); みき (miki)

Compounds

• 五(ご)寸(すん)釘(くぎ) (gosunkugi): nail that is 5 sun (寸) long (approximately 15 cm)

Noun

寸(すん) • (sun) 

1. sun (a Japanese length measurement equivalent to 10 bu (分) or approximately 3.03 cm)

Coordinate terms

• Previous: 分
• Next: 尺

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Korean

Hanja

Pronunciation 1

寸 • (chon)

• Eumhun:
  • Sound (hangeul): 촌 (revised: chon, McCune–Reischauer: ch'on, Yale: chon)
  • Name (hangeul): 마디
    (revised: madi, McCune–Reischauer: madi, Yale: mati)

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

Pronunciation 2

寸 • (chi) (hangeul 치, revised chi, McCune–Reischauer ch'i, Yale chi)

1. hanja form^? of 치 (“a chi, a Korean inch”)

Pronunciation 3

寸 • (don) (hangeul 돈, revised don, McCune–Reischauer ton, Yale tōn)

1. hanja form^? of 돈 (“a don, a small Korean unit of weight”)

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Vietnamese

Han character

寸 (thốn, dón, són, thuỗn, xốn)

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