癸

癸 U+7678, 癸 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7678 ← 癷 [U+7677] CJK Unified Ideographs 癹 → [U+7679]

Translingual

Han character

癸 (Kangxi radical 105, 癶+4, 9 strokes, cangjie input 弓人一大 (NOMK), four-corner 1243₀, composition ⿱癶天)

Derived characters

• 揆, 湀, 猤, 暌, 楑, 睽, 䙆, 聧, 䠏, 䤆, 鍨, 騤, 骙, 鄈, 戣, 䳫, 葵, 闋, 阕

Additional Derived Characters

• 𠊾, 𱓩, 𡎝, 𡞳, 𢃯, 𢜽, 𦝢, 𰾥, 𧍜, 𩹍, 𬆬, 𤬉, 𫛼, 𧡫, 𩀁, 𩔆, 𣔽, 𢑣, 𣉉, 𣦌, 𥯫, 𬑪, 𰐆, 𧝚

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 783, character 32
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 22660
• Dae Jaweon: page 1193, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2760, character 4
• Unihan data for U+7678

Chinese

trad.		癸
simp. #		癸
alternative forms		𫻮

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 癸
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Shizhoupian script	Small seal script

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

	Old Chinese
睽	*kʰʷiːl
湀	*kʰʷiːl, *kʷilʔ, *ɡʷilʔ, *kʰʷiːd
聧	*kʰʷiː
藈	*kʰʷiːl
癸	*kʷilʔ
葵	*ɡʷil
鄈	*ɡʷil
楑	*ɡʷil, *ɡʷilʔ
戣	*ɡʷril
鍨	*ɡʷril
騤	*ɡʷril, *kʷiːd
揆	*ɡʷilʔ
猤	*ɡʷils
闋	*kʰʷiːd

Pictogram (象形) – original meaning uncertain:

• The original form of 戣 (kuí) (a type of halberd);
• The original form of 葵 (kuí) (mallow);
• A measuring tool, conceptually related to 揆 (kuí). Cheng (2024) proposes it depicts a setup for measuring solar shadows (using 土圭 (tǔguī, “clay measuring rule”)) to determine directions and solstices, and also considers it the original form of 規 / 规 (“compass; rule”).

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): guǐ (gui³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄨㄟˇ

  (Chengdu, Sichuanese Pinyin): gui⁴

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gwai³
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): kui

  (Hailu, HRS): gui^ˇ

• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): gui³
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): kúi / kùi

  (Teochew, Peng'im): gui³

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶gue

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: guǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄨㄟˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: guěi
    • Wade–Giles: kuei³
    • Yale: gwěi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: goei
    • Palladius: гуй (guj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ku̯eɪ̯²¹⁴/
  • (Chengdu)
    • Sichuanese Pinyin: gui⁴
    • Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: gui
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kuei²¹³/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gwai³
    • Yale: gwai
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gwai³
    • Guangdong Romanization: guei³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʷɐi̯³³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kui
    • Hakka Romanization System: gui
    • Hagfa Pinyim: gui⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /ku̯i⁵⁵/
  • (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
    • Hakka Romanization System: gui^ˇ
    • Sinological IPA: /kui¹¹/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: gui³
    • Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: gûi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kui⁴⁵³/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: gui³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kui³³²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kúi
    • Tâi-lô: kuí
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kuie
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /kui⁵⁵⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /kui⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /kui⁴¹/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kùi
    • Tâi-lô: kuì
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kuix
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /kui⁴¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei): /kui¹¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /kui²¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: gui³
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kùi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kui²¹³/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶gue
    • MiniDict: gue^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³gue
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɡue²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: kjwijX

Rime
Character	癸
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	脂 (16)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	居誄切
Baxter	kjwijX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kiuɪX/
Pan Wuyun	/kʷiX/
Shao Rongfen	/kjuɪX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kwiX/
Li Rong	/kuiX/
Wang Li	/kwiX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kwiX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	guǐ
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gwai2

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*kʷijʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʷilʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	癸
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	guǐ
Middle Chinese	‹ kjwijX ›
Old Chinese	/*kʷijʔ/
English	10th heavenly stem
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	癸
Reading #	1/1
No.	4644
Phonetic component	癸
Rime group	脂
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	癸
Old Chinese	/*kʷilʔ/
Notes	戴侗雲戣初文；甲文象二工（金文或變二木）相交以度圜，本規初文

Definitions

癸

1. the tenth of the ten heavenly stems
2. a surname

Coordinate terms

Chinese heavenly stems: 天干 (tiāngān)edit

• 甲 (jiǎ)
• 乙 (yǐ)
• 丙 (bǐng)
• 丁 (dīng)
• 戊 (wù)
• 己 (jǐ)
• 庚 (gēng)
• 辛 (xīn)
• 壬 (rén)
• 癸 (guǐ)

Compounds

• 呼庚呼癸
• 天癸 (tiānguǐ)
• 履癸
• 庚癸
• 庚癸之呼
• 癸字號 / 癸字号
• 癸期
• 癸水 (guǐshuǐ)

Descendants

• → Zhuang: gveiq

References

• (Min Nan) “癸”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2026.

Japanese

Kanji

癸

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. something J
   1. tenth of the ten heavenly stems
   2. tenth rank

Readings

• Go-on: き (ki)
• Kan-on: き (ki)
• Kun: みずのと (mizunoto, 癸)^{←みづのと (midunoto, 癸, historical)}

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
癸
き Hyōgai
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 癸 (kjwij^X).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) き [kíꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [kʲi]

• Homophones: 木, 樹, 生, 杵, 柝, 黄, 己, 危, 忌, 奇, 季, 紀, 鬼, 基, 揆, 期, 簋

Proper noun

癸(き) • (Ki) 

1. the tenth of the ten heavenly stems;

   Hypernyms: 天干 (tenkan), 十干 (jikkan)

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

2. the tenth rank; something J

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
癸
みずのと Hyōgai
kun'yomi

水 (Mizu, “Water”, one of the Five Elements) +‎ の (no, attributive marker) +‎ 弟 (oto, “younger brother”)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) みずのと [mìzúnóꜜtò] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [mʲizɨno̞to̞]

Proper noun

癸(みずのと) • (Mizunoto) ^{←みづのと (Midunoto)?}

1. the tenth of the ten heavenly stems

   Hypernyms: 天干 (tenkan), 十干 (jikkan)

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

References

• “^▲癸”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

Korean

Hanja

癸 (eumhun 천간 계 (cheon'gan gye))

1. hanja form^? of 계 (“tenth heavenly stem”)

Vietnamese

Han character

癸: Hán Nôm readings: quý, quấy, quậy

1. chữ Hán form of Quý (“tenth of the ten heavenly stems”)

   Hypernyms: 天干, 十干

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

Compounds

• 癸丑 (Qúy Sửu/Quý Sửu)
• 癸亥 (Qúy Hợi/Quý Hợi)
• 癸卯 (Qúy Mão/Quý Mão)
• 癸巳 (Qúy Tỵ/Quý Tỵ)
• 癸未 (Qúy Mùi/Quý Mùi)
• 癸酉 (Qúy Dậu/Quý Dậu)