蓍

蓍 U+84CD, 蓍 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-84CD ← 蓌 [U+84CC] CJK Unified Ideographs 蓎 → [U+84CE]

Translingual

Han character

蓍 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+10, 16 strokes, cangjie input 廿十心日 (TJPA), four-corner 4460₁, composition ⿱艹耆)

1. milfoil, plant used in divination

Derived characters

• 𭋦

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1051, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31655
• Dae Jaweon: page 1513, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3260, character 9
• Unihan data for U+84CD

Chinese

trad.		蓍
simp. #		蓍

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
稽	*kiː, *kʰiːʔ
詣	*ŋɡiːs
栺	*ŋɡiːs, *kji
榰	*klje
脂	*kji
鴲	*kji, *kjis
指	*kjiʔ
旨	*kjiʔ
恉	*kjiʔ
嗜	*ɡjis
蓍	*qʰlji
鰭	*ɡri
耆	*ɡri
鮨	*ɡri
鬐	*ɡri

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shī (shi¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): si¹
• Eastern Min (BUC): sĭ
• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): si¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): si

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shī
    • Zhuyin: ㄕ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shih
    • Wade–Giles: shih¹
    • Yale: shr̄
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shy
    • Palladius: ши (ši)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: si¹
    • Yale: sī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː⁵⁵/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: sĭ
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /si⁵⁵/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: si¹
    • Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: si
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɬi⁵³³/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: si¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɬi⁵⁴⁴/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: si
    • Tâi-lô: si
    • Phofsit Daibuun: sy
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /si⁴⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /si³³/
    • Sinological IPA (Zhangzhou): /si⁴⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei): /si⁴⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /si⁴⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: syij

Rime
Character	蓍
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	書 (26)
Final (韻)	脂 (15)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	式之切
Baxter	syij
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɕiɪ/
Pan Wuyun	/ɕi/
Shao Rongfen	/ɕjɪ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɕi/
Li Rong	/ɕi/
Wang Li	/ɕi/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ɕi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shī
Expected Cantonese Reflex	si1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*s-kij/

  (Zhengzhang): /*qʰlji/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	蓍
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shī
Middle Chinese	‹ syij ›
Old Chinese	/*s-kij/
English	Achillea (?)
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	蓍
Reading #	1/1
No.	17330
Phonetic component	旨
Rime group	脂
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime
Old Chinese	/*qʰlji/

Definitions

蓍

1. yarrow; Achillea millefolium

Compounds

• 不待蓍龜 / 不待蓍龟 (bùdàishīguī)
• 刈蓍遺簪 / 刈蓍遗簪
• 揲蓍
• 蓍簪不忘
• 蓍草 (shīcǎo)
• 蓍蔡
• 蓍龜 / 蓍龟 (shīguī)

References

• “蓍”, 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–
• William Campbell (1913), A dictionary of the Amoy vernacular spoken throughout the prefectures of Chin-Chiu, Chiang-Chiu and Formosa (in Hokkien), 8th edition, Tainan: Taiwan Church Press, published 1961, →OCLC, page 607.
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “蓍”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 210.

Japanese

Kanji

蓍

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. lespedeza

Readings

• Go-on: し (shi)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kun: めどぎ (medogi, 蓍)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
蓍
めど Hyōgai

Noun

蓍(めど) • (medo) 

1. (archaic) short for 蓍萩 (medohagi, “Lespedeza juncea”)
2. (archaic) short for 蓍 (medoki, “divination sticks”)
3. (archaic) (by extension) the practice of divination with divination sticks or lespedeza stalks

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
蓍
めどき Hyōgai
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
筮

Noun

蓍(めどき) or 蓍(めどぎ) • (medoki or medogi) 

1. divination sticks, initially made of lespedeza stalks, used for hexagram divination

References

• “^▲蓍”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[2] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

Korean

Hanja

蓍 (eum 시 (si))

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