球

See also: 毬

Translingual

Han character

球 (Kangxi radical 96, 玉+7, 11 strokes, cangjie input 一土戈十水 (MGIJE), four-corner 1313₂, composition ⿰⺩求)

Derived characters

• 𫳰, 𨫣

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 732, character 29
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 21011
• Dae Jaweon: page 1144, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1114, character 15
• Unihan data for U+7403

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Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 球
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

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

	Old Chinese
救	*kus
求	*ɡu
球	*ɡu
逑	*ɡu
賕	*ɡu
蛷	*ɡu
莍	*ɡu
殏	*ɡu
梂	*ɡu
俅	*ɡu
脙	*ɡu, *qʰu
絿	*ɡu
銶	*ɡu
毬	*ɡu
捄	*ɡu, *ko
觩	*ɡu

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡu) : semantic ⺩ + phonetic 求 (OC *ɡu).

Etymology 1

simp. and trad.		球
alternative forms		毬／球

"Ball", earlier some "kind of jade". Bodman (1980) relates this to Wuming Zhuang klau^A2 (“ball”), and relates 俅 (qiú, “gem-adorned”) to Tibetan གྲུ (gru, “lustre of gems”). This character had a softened initial in (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Min.

Originally written as 毬／球 (qiú) (since Tang dynasty). The form 球 (qiú) (since Qing dynasty) is now more common.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 球

1. ball, globe, orb
2. (mathematics) sphere
3. round, spherical
4. earth
5. ball (in sports)
6. ball game
7. Classifier for spherical objects.
8. (Teochew, Xiang) Classifier for stringed objects. string
9. (dialectal Mandarin, Jin, vulgar) Expletive. Often used in the form of ……個球(…… my ass). Underlying meaning may be "testes".
10. (Cantonese, colloquial) million dollars

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 球 – see 璆 (“beautiful jade; tinkle of jade objects”). (This character is a variant form of 璆).

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

球

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: ぐ (gu)
• Kan-on: きゅう (kyū, Jōyō)^{←きう (kiu, historical)}
• Kun: たま (tama, 球, Jōyō)
• Nanori: く (ku)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
球
きゅう Grade: 3
on'yomi

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Chinese 毬／球 (gjuw, “ball, sphere, orb”).

Noun

球(きゅう) • (kyū) ^{←きう (kiu)?}

1. sphere; globe; orb
2. (baseball) pitch
3. (slang, electronics) vacuum tube, valve

   五(ご)球(きゅう)スーパーラジオ

   gokyū sūpā rajio

   five-tube superheterodyne receiver

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
球
たま Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Noun

1. ball
2. bulb (as in a light bulb)
3. (slang, electronics) vacuum tube, valve

   球(たま)のアンプ

   tama no anpu

   tube amplifier

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Korean

Hanja

球 • (gu) (hangeul 구)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 球 (cầu)

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