是

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See also: 昰
是 U+662F, 是
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-662F
← 昮
[U+662E] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 昰 →
[U+6630]

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
9 strokes
Stroke order
是-order.gif

Han character[edit]

是 (radical 72, 日+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 日一卜人 (AMYO), four-corner 60801, composition ⿱日𤴓)

Derived characters[edit]

References[edit]

  • KangXi: page 493, character 26
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13859
  • Dae Jaweon: page 858, character 6
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1497, character 5
  • Unihan data for U+662F

Chinese[edit]

simp. and trad.
 是
alternative forms 昰

Glyph origin[edit]

Historical forms of the character 是
Western Zhou Spring and Autumn Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Chu Slip and silk script Qin slip script Shizhoupian script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
是-bronze.svg 是-bronze-spring.svg 是-bronze-warring.svg 是-silk.svg 是-slip.svg 是-zhou.svg 是-seal.svg 是-bigseal.svg
Characters in the same phonetic series (是) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
鞮 *teː
隄 *teː, *deː
堤 *teː, *teːʔ, *dje
鍉 *teː
蝭 *teːs, *deː
醍 *tʰeːʔ, *deː
緹 *tʰeːʔ, *deː
提 *deː, *dje
瑅 *deː
題 *deː, *deːs
媞 *deː, *deːʔ, *djeʔ
褆 *deː, *deʔ, *djeʔ
禔 *deː, *tje, *dje
騠 *deː
趧 *deː
鯷 *deː, *deːs, *djes
踶 *deːs, *deʔ
徥 *deʔ, *djeʔ
匙 *dje
是 *djeʔ
諟 *djeʔ
翨 *hljes, *kles
睼 *tʰeːns
寔 *djɯɡ
湜 *dɯɡ
遈 *djɯɡ

Originally a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *djeʔ): semantic 早 + phonetic 止 (OC *kjɯʔ), but the original meaning is unclear. It has been suggested that 早 looks like a spoon, so 是 may have been the original character for 匙 (OC *dje, “spoon”). As early as in late bronze inscriptions, the lower part of 早 split off and combined with 止 to give 昰, which carried over to the small seal script, and Shuowen considers this a compound of 日 (“sun”) + 正 (“upright; right”) (i.e. as the upright sun).

Etymology[edit]

“This [an independent pronoun] > be right, correct, to be, so”. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-daj ~ m-di (“that; this”). In Chinese, cognate with 寔 (OC *djɯɡ, “this”), 實 (OC *ɦliɡ, “this”), 之 (OC *tjɯ, “this; he; she; it”), 諟 (OC *djeʔ, “to examine, to consider”). In Tibeto-Burman, cognate with Tibetan དེ (de, “that”), Jingpho dai, ndai (“this”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Rime
Character 是
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 常 (25)
Final (韻) 支 (11)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 承紙切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/d͡ʑiᴇX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/d͡ʑiɛX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/d͡ʑjɛX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/d͡ʑiə̆X/
Li
Rong 		/ʑieX/
Wang
Li 		/ʑǐeX/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/ʑie̯X/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		shì
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 是
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		shì
Middle
Chinese 		‹ dzyeX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*[d]eʔ/
English this

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 是
Reading # 1/1
No. 11645
Phonetic
component 		是
Rime
group 		支
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		是
Old
Chinese 		/*djeʔ/
Notes 金文從早從止，
馬敘倫謂正加射的。按象對準目標行進，
表所行正確

Definitions[edit]

是

  1. † this; this thing
    是日  ―  shìrì  ―  this day
  2. (copulative) to be
    1. indicating that the subject and object are the same.
      泰晤士河是英國第二長的河流。 [MSC, trad.]
      泰晤士河是英国第二长的河流。 [MSC, simp.]
      Tàiwùshìhé shì Yīngguó dì'èr cháng de héliú. [Pinyin]
      The River Thames is the second longest river in the UK.
    2. indicating that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.
      我是老師。 / 我是老师。  ―  Wǒ shì lǎoshī.  ―  I am a teacher.
      我是中國人。 / 我是中国人。  ―  Wǒ shì zhōngguórén.  ―  I am Chinese.
    3. indicating a place being occupied by the object, where the place forms the subject.
      房子前面是禾場。 / 房子前面是禾场。  ―  Fángzǐ qiánmiàn shì héchǎng.  ―  The threshing floor is in front of the house.
      到處都是 / 到处都是  ―  dàochù dōu shì  ―  to be everywhere
  3. a particle emphasizing the word following it.
    我是昨天買的票。 / 我是昨天买的票。  ―  Wǒ shì zuótiān mǎi de piào.  ―  It was yesterday when I bought the ticket.
    我買票是在昨天。 / 我买票是在昨天。  ―  Wǒ mǎi piào shì zài zuótiān.  ―  It was yesterday when I bought the ticket.
  4. a particle showing agreement. In this meaning, 是 is stressed. truly; indeed.
    天氣是冷。 / 天气是冷。  ―  Tiānqì shì lěng.  ―  It is indeed cold.
    是，長官。 / 是，长官。  ―  Shì, zhǎngguān.  ―  Yes, sir.
    這件裙子是很漂亮，但是太貴了。 [MSC, trad.]
    这件裙子是很漂亮，但是太贵了。 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè jiàn qúnzi shì hěn piàoliàng, dànshì tài guì le. [Pinyin]
    Although this dress is truly beautiful, it's too expensive.
  5. (only in compounds) true, correct
    • 不是  ―  bùshì  ―  fault; mistake; wrongdoing
    • 你說得是 / 你说得是  ―  nǐ shuō de shì  ―  What you said is right
    • 各行其是  ―  gè xíng qí shì  ―  to have each going his own way, i.e., doing what he considers right
    • 共商國是 / 共商国是  ―  gòng shāng guó shì  ―  to discuss national affairs (This is a fossil word from Ancient Chinese where 是 (OC *djeʔ) originally means "what is right (for the country)", i.e., "laws and policies")
  6. A surname​.

Usage notes[edit]

When translated as "to be", 是 is used only to link two nouns or nominal expressions.

我是老師 / 我是老师  ―  wǒ shì lǎoshī  ―  I am a teacher
泰晤士河是英國第二長的河流。 [MSC, trad.]
泰晤士河是英国第二长的河流。 [MSC, simp.]
Tàiwùshìhé shì Yīngguó dì'èr cháng de héliú. [Pinyin]
The River Thames is the second longest river in the UK.

是 is not used to link a noun and an adjective. The following sentence would be incorrect:

*這是好 / *这是好  ―  * zhè shì hǎo  ―  *

The correct sentence is

這很好 / 这很好  ―  zhè hěn hǎo  ―  This is (very) good

Here, 很 (hěn) is used as a filler to link a noun and an adjective and is not interpreted as "very".

A way to use 是 with an adjective is to use 的 (de) after the adjective to turn it into a noun.

那隻貓是黑的 / 那只猫是黑的  ―  nà zhī māo shì hēi de  ―  This cat is black (This cat is a black one)

Synonyms[edit]

Dialectal synonyms of 這 (“this”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 此, 斯, 是, 之, 茲 anteclassical, 夫, 爾
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 這
Mandarin Beijing 這
Taiwan 這
Cantonese Guangzhou 呢, 依
Hong Kong 呢, 依
Taishan 該
Hakka Miaoli (N. Sixian) 這
Liudui (S. Sixian) 這
Hsinchu (Hailu) 這
Dongshi (Dabu) 這
Hsinchu (Raoping) 這
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 這
Huizhou Jixi 爾
Min Dong Fuzhou 只
Min Nan Xiamen 這
Quanzhou 只, 這
Zhangzhou 這
Taipei 這
Chaozhou 只
Shantou 只
Wu Shanghai 搿, 迭 old-style, 第 obsolete
Wenzhou 個
Dialectal synonyms of 是 (“to be (+ noun)”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 惟, 為, 乃
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 是, 係
Mandarin Beijing 是
Taiwan 是
Tianjin 是
Jinan 是
Xi'an 是
Wuhan 是
Chengdu 是
Yangzhou 是
Hefei 是
Malaysia 是
Singapore 是
Sokuluk (Gansu Dungan) 是
Cantonese Guangzhou 係
Hong Kong 係
Macau 係
Taishan 係
Yangjiang 係
Kuala Lumpur 係
Singapore 係
Gan Nanchang 是
Hakka Meixian 係
Huizhou (Huicheng Bendihua) 係
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 係
Liudui (S. Sixian) 係
Hsinchu (Hailu) 係
Dongshi (Dabu) 係
Hsinchu (Raoping) 係
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 係
Jin Taiyuan 是
Min Bei Jian'ou 是
Min Dong Fuzhou 是
Min Nan Xiamen 是
Quanzhou 是
Zhangzhou 是
Taipei 是
Kaohsiung 是
Tainan 是
Taichung 是
Hsinchu 是
Lukang 是
Sanxia 是
Yilan 是
Kinmen 是
Magong 是
Penang (Hokkien) 是
Singapore (Hokkien) 是
Philippines (Manila Hokkien) 是
Chaozhou 是
Shantou 是
Singapore (Teochew) 是
Wenchang 是
Wu Shanghai 是
Suzhou 是
Wenzhou 是
Xiang Changsha 是
Shuangfeng 是

Compounds[edit]

Derived terms from 是

References[edit]

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

是

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

  1. justice, right

Readings[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Kanji in this term
是
ぜ
Grade: S
goon

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

是(ぜ) • (ze)

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

Etymology 2[edit]

Kanji in this term
是
こ
Grade: S
kun’yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 是 – see the following entry at これ.
これ【此れ・是・之・維・惟】
[pronoun]this
  1. (deictically) this one (near the speaker)
  2. (anaphorically) this one I am talking about (only the speaker knows)
[pronoun](archaic) I; me
[pronoun](archaic) you
[pronoun](literary, calque of Literary Chinese 是, 之, 惟, etc.) Repeat the topic with a correct case marker to avoid any misunderstanding if it is not a subject.
(This term, 是, is a kanji spelling of これ.)

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

是 (eumhun 바를 시 (bareul si))

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

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

是 (thị)

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