為

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為 U+70BA, 為
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-70BA
← 点
[U+70B9]		 CJK Unified Ideographs 炻 →
[U+70BB]
See also: 爲 and 为

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
為-order.gif

Han character[edit]

為 (radical 86 火+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 戈大弓火 (IKNF), four-corner 20227)

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  • KangXi: not present, would follow page 669, character 10
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 18981
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2198, character 11
  • Unihan data for U+70BA

Chinese[edit]

trad. 為/爲
simp. 为

Glyph origin[edit]

Historical forms of the character 為
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
為-oracle.svg 為-bronze.svg 為-silk.svg 為-bigseal.svg 為-seal.svg

Simplified from 爲 (爫 → 丶).

In the oracle bone script, it is an ideogrammic compound (會意): 又 (“hand”) + 象 (“elephant”) — a hand holding an animal (an elephant or a monkey). The 又 later became 爪 (“hand; claw”).

Shuowen Jiezi explained the character to be a representation of the female macaque.

Etymology[edit]

The two pronunciations below (“to make; to do; to be”, “for; to; because”) are cognate; the latter is the *–s derivative of the former. Words meaning “to make, to do” often have secondary meanings of “for, as” – compare 作.

Etymology not certain. Starostin compared this word with Tibetan བགྱིད (bgyid, “to make, to manufacture”), བགྱི་བ (bgyi ba, “action, deed”), ཡིན (yin, “is, be”) and Burmese ဝေ (we, “to distribute, to share”). Schuessler (2007) listed *ʔaayh (“to give”) (> Khmer ឲ្យ (“to give, to donate”)) and Khmer ធ្វើ (thveu, “to do, to make”), although the vowels do not match.

The graphic representation using monkey or elephant probably stems a homophonic or near-homophonic etymon which was rarely attested; compare Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b/g-woj-n > Jingpho woi (“monkey”) and possibly 猿 (OC *ɢʷan, “ape”). Outside Sino-Tibetan, compare Proto-Vietic *-vɔːj (“elephant”) > Vietnamese voi (“elephant”).

Pronunciation 1[edit]

Rime
Character 為
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 云 (35)
Final (韻) 支 (14)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Closed
Division (等) Chongniu III
Fanqie 薳支切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɦˠiuᴇ/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɦʷᵚiɛ/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɣiuɛ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ɦjwiə̆/
Li
Rong		 /ɣjue/
Wang
Li		 /ɣǐwe/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /wie̯/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 wéi
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 為
Reading # 1/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 wéi
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ hjwe ›
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷ(r)aj/
English make, do, act as

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 為
Reading # 1/2
Phonetic
component		 爲
Rime
group		 歌
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 爲
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷal/
Notes 俗爲字

Definitions[edit]

為

  1. to do; to make
  2. (to turn, to transform) into; to
  3. to be (equivalent to, equal to)
  4. to take something as
  5. to act as; to serve as; to behave as
  6. as (in the capacity of)

Compounds[edit]

Derived terms from 為

Pronunciation 2[edit]

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 為
Reading # 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 wèi
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ hjweH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷ(r)aj-s/
English for, because

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 為
Reading # 2/2
Phonetic
component		 爲
Rime
group		 歌
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 爲
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷals/

Definitions[edit]

為

  1. for; to
  2. because of
    你為這生氣哦。 / 你为这生气哦。  ―  Nǐ wèi zhè shēngqì ò.  ―  So that's what you're upset about?
  3. for the sake of
    不為五斗米折腰 / 不为五斗米折腰  ―  bù wèi wǔ dǒu mǐ zhéyāo  ―  don't bow down for the sake of five pecks (or decalitres) of rice

Compounds[edit]

Derived terms from 為

Japanese[edit]

Shinjitai

 為

Kyūjitai

 爲

Kanji[edit]

See also:
為

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 爲)

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

Readings[edit]

Noun[edit]

為 (hiragana ため, rōmaji tame)

  1. benefit
  2. sake; reason

Usage notes[edit]

The kana writing is preferred over the kanji spelling.

Verb[edit]

為 (irregular conjugation, hiragana す, rōmaji su)

  1. to do

Derived terms[edit]

Compounds[edit]

Derived terms

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

為 • (wi) (hangeul 위) 為 (wi; hangul: 위)

  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]

為 (vi, vị)

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