耦

耦 U+8026, 耦 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8026 ← 耥 [U+8025] CJK Unified Ideographs 耧 → [U+8027]

Translingual

Han character

耦 (Kangxi radical 127, 耒+9, 15 strokes, cangjie input 手木田中月 (QDWLB), four-corner 5692₇, composition ⿰耒禺)

1. plow side by side
2. team of two

Derived characters

• 藕

Additional Derived Characters

• 𡂮, 𡫢, 𥨱, 𬕽

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 964, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 28952
• Dae Jaweon: page 1412, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2774, character 8
• Unihan data for U+8026

Chinese

trad.		耦
simp. #		耦

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
齵	*ŋoː, *ŋo
偶	*ŋoːʔ, *ŋoːs
耦	*ŋoːʔ
藕	*ŋoːʔ
髃	*ŋoːʔ, *ŋo
蕅	*ŋoːʔ
愚	*ŋo
隅	*ŋo
禺	*ŋo, *ŋos
湡	*ŋo
堣	*ŋo
嵎	*ŋo
鰅	*ŋo, *ŋoŋ
鍝	*ŋo
遇	*ŋos
寓	*ŋos
庽	*ŋos
媀	*ŋos
喁	*ŋoŋ
顒	*ŋoŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ŋoːʔ): semantic 耒 (“tilling tool”) + phonetic 禺 (OC *ŋo, *ŋos), paired working in the fields.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ǒu (ou³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄡˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ngau⁵
• Eastern Min (BUC): ngēu
• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): gieo³
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ngó͘

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: ǒu
    • Zhuyin: ㄡˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ǒu
    • Wade–Giles: ou³
    • Yale: ǒu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: oou
    • Palladius: оу (ou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀoʊ̯²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: ngau⁵
    • Yale: ngáuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ngau⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: ngeo⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋɐu̯¹³/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: ngēu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋɛu³³/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: gieo³
    • Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: gâ̤u
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kieu⁴⁵³/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: gieo³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kieu³³²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ngó͘
    • Tâi-lô: ngóo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: ngor
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen, Taipei): /ŋɔ̃⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /ŋɔ̃⁴¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: nguwX

Rime
Character	耦
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	疑 (31)
Final (韻)	侯 (137)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	五口切
Baxter	nguwX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ŋəuX/
Pan Wuyun	/ŋəuX/
Shao Rongfen	/ŋəuX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ŋəwX/
Li Rong	/ŋuX/
Wang Li	/ŋəuX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ŋə̯uX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	ǒu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ngau5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*ŋˤ(r)oʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ŋoːʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	耦
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	ǒu
Middle Chinese	‹ nguwX ›
Old Chinese	/*ŋˁ(r)oʔ/
English	pair (n.)
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	耦
Reading #	1/1
No.	15914
Phonetic component	禺
Rime group	侯
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	藕
Old Chinese	/*ŋoːʔ/

Definitions

耦

1. (archaic) to plow side-by-side
2. pair; couple (two humans as a unit)

   • 長沮、桀溺耦而耕，孔子過之，使子路問津焉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     长沮、桀溺耦而耕，孔子过之，使子路问津焉。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Chángjǔ, Jiénì ǒu ér gēng, Kǒngzǐ guò zhī, shǐ Zǐlù wènjīn yān. [Pinyin]

     Changju and Jieni were at work in the field as a pair, when Confucius passed by them, and sent Zilu to inquire for the ford from them.

3. alternative form of 偶 (ǒu, “match; pair; couple; even; etc.”)

Compounds

• 二五耦
• 佳耦
• 嘉耦
• 妃耦 (pèi'ǒu)
• 對耦 / 对耦
• 怨耦
• 睠以佳耦
• 耦合 (ǒuhé)
• 耦耕
• 耦語 / 耦语
• 齊大非耦 / 齐大非耦

References

• “耦”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “耦”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 169.

Japanese

Kanji

耦

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. plow side by side
2. team of two

Readings

• On (unclassified): ごう (gō)、ぐ (gu)、ぐう (gū)

References

• “^▲耦”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[2] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

Korean

Hanja

耦 • (u) (hangeul 우, revised u, McCune–Reischauer u, Yale wu)

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