巳

See also: 己 and 已

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

巳 (Kangxi radical 49, 己+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 口山 (RU), four-corner 7771₇, composition ⿺乚コ)

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/己
• 包 (Chinese form)
• 导

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 326, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8744
• Dae Jaweon: page 631, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 984, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5DF3

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		巳

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 巳
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 (巳) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
巳	*ljɯʔ, *lɯs
祀	*ljɯʔ
汜	*ljɯʔ
戺	*zrɯʔ
起	*kʰɯʔ
熙	*qʰlɯ
媐	*qʰlɯ, *lɯ
圯	*lɯ
异	*lɯ, *lɯs
巸	*lɯ

Different theories:

• Pictogram (象形) of a snake
• Pictogram (象形) of a fetus

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): sì (si⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄙˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zi⁶
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): sǐr / sū / chī

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: sì
    • Zhuyin: ㄙˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sìh
    • Wade–Giles: ssŭ⁴
    • Yale: sz̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: syh
    • Palladius: сы (sy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sz̩⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: zi⁶
    • Yale: jih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzi⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: ji⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siː²²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sǐr
    • Tâi-lô: sǐr
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /sɯ²²/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sū
    • Tâi-lô: sū
    • Phofsit Daibuun: su
    • IPA (Xiamen): /su²²/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chī
    • Tâi-lô: tsī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: ci
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡si²²/
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /t͡si³³/

Note: chī - vernacular, sū - literary.

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• Middle Chinese: ziX

Rime
Character	巳
Reading #	2/3
Initial (聲)	邪 (17)
Final (韻)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	詳里切
Baxter	ziX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/zɨX/
Pan Wuyun	/zɨX/
Shao Rongfen	/zieX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/zɨX/
Li Rong	/ziəX/
Wang Li	/zĭəX/
Bernard Karlgren	/ziX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	sì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	zi6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*s-[ɢ]əʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ljɯʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	巳
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	sì
Middle Chinese	‹ ziX ›
Old Chinese	/*s-[ɢ]əʔ/
English	6th earthly branch
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	巳
Reading #	1/2
No.	12007
Phonetic component	巳
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	似
Old Chinese	/*ljɯʔ/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 巳

1. sixth of twelve earthly branches (十二支)
2. snake (蛇) of Chinese zodiac

Coordinate terms

• Template:list:earthly branches/zh

References

• (Min Nan) “Entry #210”, 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.

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 巳 – see 已 (“to stop; to finish; already; have done something; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 已).

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Japanese

Kanji

巳

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

1. sign of the snake

Readings

• Go-on: じ (ji)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kun: み (mi, 巳)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
巳
み Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

Short for 蛇 (hemi, “snake”)

Pronunciation

• Homophones: 身, 実, 子

Proper noun

巳(み) • (Mi) 

1. the Snake, the sixth of the twelve Earthly Branches

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
巳
し Jinmeiyō
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 巳 (zi^X)

Proper noun

巳(し) • (Shi) 

1. the Snake, the sixth of the twelve Earthly Branches

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Korean

Hanja

巳 • (sa) (hangeul 사, revised sa, McCune–Reischauer sa, Yale sa)

1. the hours from 9 to 11
2. 6th terrestrial branch

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Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 巳 (tị)

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