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Definition 2024


U+4E8C, 二
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E8C

[U+4E8B]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+4E8D]
See also: (katakana), , , , 𠄞, and 𠄠

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 7 二+0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 一一 (MM), four-corner 10100, composition一)

  1. Kangxi radical #7, (two).

References

  • KangXi: page 86, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 247
  • Dae Jaweon: page 175, character 6
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 2, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+4E8C

Chinese

simp. and trad.
alt. forms financial

𠄠

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script





References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (large seal) and
  • Xu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*nis
*njis
*njis
*njis
*njis

Ideogram (指事) - two parallel lines. Compare with , one line meaning one, , three lines meaning three, and , four lines meaning four.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-ni-s.

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (38)
Final () (15)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ȵiɪH/
Pan
Wuyun
/ȵiH/
Shao
Rongfen
/ȵʑjɪH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ȵiH/
Li
Rong
/ȵiH/
Wang
Li
/ȵʑiH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ȵʑiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
èr
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
èr
Middle
Chinese
‹ nyijH ›
Old
Chinese
/*ni[j]-s/
English two

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
Reading # 1/1
No. 2824
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
2
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*njis/

Definitions

  1. two
  2. second
  3. secondary, vice-
  4. again, once more
  5. two-fold, double
  6. fold, times
  7. different; other, else
  8. Short for "twenty, two hundred or two thousand" after hundreds, thousands and ten thousands.
  9. Short for "twenty cents".
  10. (Northeast Mandarin, neologism) stupid, dumb; silly, thick, lacking mental agility (often in a cute way)

Usage notes

See 兩#Usage notes.

Synonyms

  • (used in counting) (liǎng)

Compounds

See also

Chinese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102 103 104 108 1012
Cardinal

亿
Financial




亿
Playing cards in Chinese · 撲克牌扑克牌 (pūkèpái) (layout · text)
A
J Q K 小王 (black), 大王 (red)

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Alternative forms

  • (financial or formal)

Readings

Compounds

  • 二枚目 (にまいめ) (nimaime)
  • 二十歳 (はたち) (hatachi)
  • 二十日 (はつか) (hatsuka)
  • 二律背反 (にりつはいはん) (niritsuhaihan)
  • 二重人格 (にじゅうじんかく) (nijūjinkaku)
  • 二束三文 (にそくさんもん) (nisokusanmon)
  • 十重二十重 (とえはたえ) (toehatae)
  •  (ふた) () (futatsume)
  •  () (つぎ) (ninotsugi)
  •  () (まい) (ninomai)

Derived terms

  •  (ふた) (futatsu): noun: two, 2 (counting); two years old
  •  (ふた)けた (futaketa) noun: two digits, double figures

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (nyijH, two).

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana , romaji ni)

  1. two, 2
  2. second

Numeral

Japanese cardinal numbers
 <  1 2 3  > 
    Cardinal :

(, ni)

  1. two, 2
Idioms
  • 二兎を追う者は一兎をも得ず
    にとをおうものはいっとをもえず
    nito o oumono wa itto o mo ezu
    focus on one thing at a time
  • 二の足を踏む
    にのあしをふむ
    ni no ashi o fumu
    hesitate; think twice; shy or flinch
  • 二階から目薬
    にかいからめぐすり
    nikai kara megusuri
    trying to do an impossible task; taking eye medicine from the 2nd floor

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
ふた
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Originally /huta/: *[puta] > [ɸuta]. The Ablaut form of (hito2, one), which it doubles.

Noun

(hiragana ふた, romaji futa)

  1. two

References

  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

(i)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul):  (revised: i, McCune-Reischauer: i, Yale: i)
  • Name (hangeul): 둘, 두 (revised: dul, McCune-Reischauer: tul, Yale: twul)
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

(nhì, nhị)

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

References


Zhuang

Numeral

  1. Sawndip form of ngeih.