客

客 U+5BA2, 客 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5BA2 ← 审 [U+5BA1] CJK Unified Ideographs 宣 → [U+5BA3]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

客 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 十竹水口 (JHER), four-corner 3060₄, composition ⿱宀各)

Derived characters

• 額 (额)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 284, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7128
• Dae Jaweon: page 561, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 927, character 13
• Unihan data for U+5BA2

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		客

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 客
Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
髂	*kʰraːɡs
路	*ɡ·raːɡs
輅	*ɡ·raːɡs
賂	*ɡ·raːɡs
虂	*ɡ·raːɡs
露	*ɡ·raːɡs
潞	*raːɡs
鷺	*raːɡs
璐	*raːɡs
簬	*raːɡs
簵	*ɡ·raːɡs
洛	*ɡ·raːɡ
駱	*ɡ·raːɡ
絡	*ɡ·raːɡ
酪	*ɡ·raːɡ
烙	*ɡ·raːɡ
雒	*ɡ·raːɡ
珞	*ɡ·raːɡ
硌	*ɡ·raːɡ
袼	*ɡ·raːɡ, *klaːɡ
笿	*ɡ·raːɡ
鉻	*ɡ·raːɡ, *kraːɡ
鮥	*ɡ·raːɡ
鵅	*ɡ·raːɡ, *kraːɡ
挌	*ɡ·raːɡ, *kraːɡ
落	*ɡ·raːɡ
各	*klaːɡ
胳	*klaːɡ
閣	*klaːɡ
格	*klaːɡ, *kraːɡ
擱	*klaːɡ
恪	*kʰlaːɡ
愙	*kʰaːɡ
貉	*ɡlaːɡ, *mɡraːɡ
狢	*ɡlaːɡ
佫	*ɡlaːɡ
略	*ɡ·raɡ
茖	*kraːɡ
骼	*kraːɡ
觡	*kraːɡ
蛒	*kraːɡ
敋	*kraːɡ
客	*kʰraːɡ
喀	*kʰraːɡ
揢	*kʰraːɡ
額	*ŋɡraːɡ
峉	*ŋɡraːɡ
頟	*ŋɡraːɡ
詻	*ŋɡraːɡ
垎	*ɡraːɡ
楁	*ɡraːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰraːɡ) : semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 各 (OC *klaːɡ) – a guest.

Etymology

Probably belongs to the word family of 格 (OC *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ, “to go, to come”). Schuessler (2007) cites Tibetan དགྲ (dgra, “enemy”) as a possible cognate.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 客

1. guest; visitor

   我家來客了。／我家来客了。  ―  Wǒ jiā lái kè le.  ―  A guest has come to visit my home.

   • 花徑不曾緣客掃，蓬門今始為君開。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     花径不曾缘客扫，蓬门今始为君开。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 761, Du Fu, 客至 (A Guest Comes); translated by Stephen Owen

     Huājìng bùcéng yuán kè sǎo, péngmén jīn shǐ wèi jūn kāi. [Pinyin]

     My flowered path has never yet been swept on account of a guest,
     my ramshackle gate for the first time today is open because of you.

2. customer; client; consumer (Classifier: 個／个 c; 位 c)

   客滿／客满  ―  kèmǎn  ―  to have a full house

   今日鋪頭有個客好麻煩啊。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   今日铺头有个客好麻烦啊。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   gam¹ jat⁶ pou³ tau^4-2 jau⁵ go³ haak³ hou² maa⁴ faan⁴ aa³. [Jyutping]

   There was a really annoying customer at the store today.

3. to treat with guest etiquette; to receive friendly
4. minor; less major; less important
5. Agent suffix, indicating “one that engages in ...”.

   政客  ―  zhèngkè  ―  politician

   刺客  ―  cìkè  ―  assassin

6. one who sponges on a wealthy family; hanger-on; sponger
7. traveller; passenger; one who lives away from home
8. to live away from home; to live abroad
9. (in general) people; person
10. objective; beyond human consciousness

    客觀／客观  ―  kèguān  ―  objective

11. Short for 客家 (Kèjiā, “Hakka”).

    客話／客话 [Sixian Hakka]  ―  Hak-fa [Pha̍k-fa-sṳ]  ―  Hakka language

    純客縣／纯客县  ―  chúnkèxiàn  ―  county whose residents are all Hakka people

12. (dialectal) Classifier for units of food sold.

    • 程凌要了兩客西瓜 [MSC, trad.]
      程凌要了两客西瓜 [MSC, simp.]

      From: 棋王

      Chéng Líng yào le liǎng kè xīguā [Pinyin]

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

13. a surname

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 客人 (“guest; visitor”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		賓, 客, 人客, 來客, 賓客
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		客人, 來客, 賓客
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	客人, 客
	Taiwan	客人, 客
	Singapore	客人
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	客人, 客
Central Plains Mandarin	Xi'an	客
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	人客, 客
	Wuhan	客, 客人
	Guilin	客人
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	客人, 客
	Hefei	客
Mandarin	Fuzhou (Qinjiang, Changle)	人客
	Nanping (Yanping)	人客
Cantonese	Guangzhou	人客, 客人, 客
	Hong Kong	人客, 客人, 客
	Taishan	人客
	Taishan (Guanghai)	客人
	Yangjiang	人客
	Wuzhou	客人, 人客
	Hepu (Lianzhou)	客人, 人客
	Hepu (Shatian)	人客
	Baise	客人
	Qinzhou	客人
	Qinzhou (Xiniujiao)	客人
	Beihai	客人
	Beihai (Nankang)	人客
	Beihai (Yingpan)	客人
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cô Tô)	客人, 人客
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cát Bà)	客人, 人客
	Fangchenggang (Fangcheng)	客人
	Penang (Guangfu)	人客
	Singapore (Guangfu)	人客
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	人客
	Móng Cái	客人, 人客
	Mandalay (Taishan)	人客
Gan	Nanchang	客, 人客
Hakka	Meixian	人客
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	人客
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	人客
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	人客
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	人客
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	人客
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	人客
Jin	Taiyuan	客人
Jiuxing Yumin	Lanxi	客人
Northern Min	Jian'ou	人客
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	儂客
	Singapore (Fuqing)	儂客
Southern Min	Xiamen	儂客
	Quanzhou	儂客
	Jinjiang	儂客
	Anxi	儂客
	Zhangzhou	儂客
	Zhangpu	儂客
	Taipei	儂客
	Kaohsiung	儂客
	Penang (Hokkien)	儂客, 客
	Singapore (Hokkien)	儂客
	Manila (Hokkien)	儂客
	Chaozhou	儂客
	Shantou	儂客
	Shantou (Chaoyang)	儂客
	Jieyang	儂客
	Haifeng	儂客
	Bangkok (Teochew)	儂客
	Singapore (Teochew)	儂客
	Pontianak (Teochew)	儂客
Puxian Min	Putian	儂客
	Putian (Donghai, Chengxiang)	儂客
	Putian (Jiangkou, Hanjiang)	儂客
	Putian (Nanri, Xiuyu)	儂客
	Xianyou	儂客
	Xianyou (Fengting)	儂客
	Xianyou (Youyang)	儂客
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Sanxiang)	儂客
Northern Pinghua	Guilin (Dongbianzhou)	客人
Waxiang	Guzhang (Gaofeng)	客
Wu	Shanghai	人客, 客人
	Suzhou	客人
	Wenzhou	人客, 客
Xiang	Changsha	客, 人客
	Shuangfeng	客, 人客

Dialectal synonyms of 顧客 (“customer”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		顧客, 消費者
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	顧客, 買主兒
	Taiwan	客人
	Chengde	顧客, 買主兒, 主顧
	Chifeng	顧客, 買主
	Hulunbuir (Hailar)	顧客, 買主
	Heihe	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Qiqihar	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Harbin	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Jiamusi	顧客, 買主
	Baicheng	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Changchun	顧客
	Tonghua	主顧
	Shenyang	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Jinzhou	顧客, 主顧, 主道, 買主
	Singapore	顧客
Jilu Mandarin	Tianjin	顧客, 主戶
	Tangshan	顧客, 主顧
	Cangzhou	顧客, 買主兒, 主戶兒
	Baoding	顧客, 主顧
	Shijiazhuang	買主
	Lijin	主戶, 主顧
	Jinan	顧客, 主戶
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Dalian	顧客
	Dandong	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Yantai	主戶, 主顧
	Qingdao	主戶
	Zhucheng	顧客, 主戶兒
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	買主兒
	Lingbao	買主
	Jining	顧客, 主戶兒
	Wanrong	買主
	Linfen	顧客, 買主
	Shangqiu	顧客, 買主
	Yuanyang	買主, 主顧
	Zhengzhou	顧客, 主顧
	Xinyang	顧客
	Baihe	顧客, 買主
	Xi'an	顧客, 買主, 顧主
	Baoji	顧客, 買主
	Tianshui	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Xining	顧客, 買主
	Xuzhou	顧客, 主顧
	Fuyang	顧客, 主顧
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	顧客, 買主
	Lanzhou	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Dunhuang	買主
	Hami	顧客, 買主
	Ürümqi	買主
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	買主
	Nanchong	顧客, 買主
	Dazhou	買主
	Hanyuan	顧客, 買主
	Xichang	顧客, 買主
	Zigong	買主
	Chongqing	買主兒
	Wuhan	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Yichang	顧客, 買主
	Xiangyang	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Tianmen	顧客, 買主, 東道
	Guiyang	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Zunyi	顧客, 主顧
	Bijie	顧客, 買主
	Liping	顧客
	Zhaotong	顧客
	Dali	老主顧
	Kunming	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Mengzi	買主
	Guilin	顧客, 買主
	Pingle	顧客, 客人
	Liuzhou	顧客
	Luzhai	顧客, 客人
	Nanning (Fujian)	顧客
	Nanning (Wuming)	顧客
	Hechi (Yizhou)	顧客, 客崽
	Luocheng (Dongmen)	客人
	Tianlin (Langping)	顧客
	Jishou	顧客
	Changde	顧客
	Hanzhong	顧客, 買主
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	顧客, 買主
	Yangzhou	顧客, 主顧
	Lianyungang	顧客, 主戶
	Lianshui	顧客
	Nantong	顧客, 主顧
	Anqing	顧客, 買主
	Wuhu	顧客, 主顧
	Hefei	顧客
	Hong'an	顧客, 買主, 主顧
Cantonese	Guangzhou	客仔
	Hong Kong	客, 客人, 客仔
	Hong Kong (Kam Tin Weitou)	客仔
	Macau	客
	Guangzhou (Panyu)	客仔
	Guangzhou (Huashan, Huadu)	顧客
	Guangzhou (Conghua)	客仔
	Guangzhou (Zengcheng)	客仔
	Foshan	客仔
	Foshan (Shatou, Nanhai)	客仔
	Foshan (Shunde)	顧客
	Foshan (Sanshui)	顧客
	Foshan (Mingcheng, Gaoming)	顧客
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	客
	Zhuhai (Qianshan, Xiangzhou)	客
	Zhuhai (Shangheng, Doumen; Tanka)	客
	Zhuhai (Doumen)	客仔
	Jiangmen (Baisha)	客仔
	Jiangmen (Xinhui)	客
	Taishan	客
	Taishan (Guanghai)	客
	Kaiping (Chikan)	客
	Enping (Niujiang)	客
	Heshan (Yayao)	顧客
	Dongguan	顧客, 客仔, 客
	Shenzhen (Shajing, Bao'an)	顧客
	Wuzhou	客人
	Baise	顧客, 客仔
	Qinzhou	顧客
	Beihai	顧客
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cô Tô)	人客
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cát Bà)	客人
	Fangchenggang (Fangcheng)	人客
	Singapore (Guangfu)	客仔
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	客仔
	Móng Cái	顧客
Gan	Lichuan	主顧
	Pingxiang	顧客, 買主, 顧主
Hakka	Meixian	顧客, 買客
	Huizhou (Huicheng Bendihua)	人客
	Dongguan (Qingxi)	客仔
	Shenzhen (Shatoujiao)	客仔
	Zhongshan (Nanlang Heshui)	顧客
	Guangzhou (Lütian, Conghua)	顧客
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	人客
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	人客
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	人客
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	人客
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	人客
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	人客
Huizhou	Shexian	顧客, 主顧
Jin	Taiyuan	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Yangyuan	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Datong	顧客, 買主
	Xinzhou	顧客, 買主, 買客
	Lüliang (Lishi)	顧客, 買主
	Changzhi	顧客, 買主
	Linhe	主顧, 買主
	Jining	主顧
	Hohhot	顧客, 買主
	Erenhot	顧客
	Pingshan	買主兒
	Zhangjiakou	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Handan	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Linzhou	顧客, 買主, 主顧
	Suide	顧客
Jiuxing Yumin	Lanxi	客人
Southern Min	Xiamen	儂客, 主顧
	Quanzhou	儂客, 主顧
	Zhangzhou	儂客, 主顧
	Tainan	儂客
	Manila (Hokkien)	客儂, 客
	Chaozhou	儂客
	Shantou	儂客
	Jieyang	儂客
	Pontianak (Teochew)	儂客
	Haikou	顧客
Puxian Min	Putian	儂客, 主客
	Putian (Jiangkou, Hanjiang)	客主阿
	Putian (Nanri, Xiuyu)	儂客
	Xianyou	買貨阿, 顧客, 儂客, 主客
	Xianyou (Fengting)	顧客
	Xianyou (Youyang)	顧客
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Longdu, Shaxi)	人客
	Zhongshan (Sanxiang)	客
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	顧客, 買主
Wu	Shanghai	顧客, 買客
	Danyang	顧客
	Hangzhou	顧客, 買主
	Ningbo	買主
	Wenzhou	買客, 主顧
	Jinhua	買主
Xiang	Changsha	顧客

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (客):

• → Japanese: 客(きゃく) (kyaku)
• → Korean: 객(客) (gaek)
• → Vietnamese: khách (客)

Others:

• → English: Khek (“Hakka”)
• → Lao: ແຂກ (khǣk, “guest”)
• → Proto-Hmong-Mien: *khæk (“guest”)
  • White Hmong: qhua (“guest”)
• → Thai: แขก (kɛ̀ɛk, “guest”)
• → Zhuang: hek (“guest; tourist”)
• → Vietnamese: Hẹ (“Hakka”)

References

• “客”, 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–
• “Entry #4866”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

客

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

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

Readings

• Go-on: きゃく (kyaku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: かく (kaku, Jōyō)
• Kun: まろうど (marōdo, 客)^{←まらうど (maraudo, 客, historical)}

Noun

客(きゃく) • (kyaku) 

1. guest; visitor
2. customer; client
3. patron

Usage notes

This is used as part of a form of address for a customer, like sir or ma'am. Because a customer is in a much higher social position, this word is used with the honorific prefix 御(お) (o-) and the honorific suffix さん (-san) or more often 様(さま) (-sama), rendering お客(きゃく)さん (okyaku-san) or お客(きゃく)様(さま) (okyaku-sama).

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Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 客 (MC khaek). Recorded as Middle Korean ᄀᆡᆨ〮 (kóyk) (Yale: koyk) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Wikisource

客 (eumhun 손 객 (son gaek))

1. hanja form^? of 객 (“guest”)

Compounds

Compounds

• 객관 (客觀, gaekgwan)
• 객석 (客席, gaekseok)
• 객지 (客地, gaekji, “foreign land”)
• 객체 (客體, gaekche)
• 검객 (劍客, geomgaek)
• 고객 (顧客, gogaek)
• 관객 (觀客, gwan'gaek)
• 관광객 (觀光客, gwan'gwanggaek)
• 승객 (乘客, seunggaek)
• 여객 (旅客, yeogaek)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

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Vietnamese

Han character

客: Hán Nôm readings: khách

1. chữ Hán form of khách (“visitor; guest”).