為

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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 Large seal script
為-oracle.svg 為-bronze.svg 為-bigseal.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་པ ‎(bgyid pa, “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]

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, romaji 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, romaji 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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