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Definition 2024


U+4EF2, 仲
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4EF2

[U+4EF1]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+4EF3]

Translingual

Han character

(radical 9 +4, 6 strokes, cangjie input 人中 (OL) or X人中 (XOL), four-corner 25206, composition)

  1. middle (or second) brother
  2. go-between, mediator
  3. A surname.

References

  • KangXi: page 94, character 11
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 403
  • Dae Jaweon: page 200, character 3
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 121, character 7
  • Unihan data for U+4EF2

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions 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
*tuŋ, *tuŋs
*tuŋ
*tuŋ, *tuŋs
*tʰuŋ
*tʰuŋ
*tʰuŋ, *duŋ, *tjoŋ
*duŋ
*duŋ
*duŋ
*duŋs

A variant of 中, created to separate the sense of seniority from the original meaning of "middle". Equivalent to Ideogrammic compound (會意) :  (person) +  (middle).

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (11)
Final () (2)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ɖɨuŋH/
Pan
Wuyun
/ɖiuŋH/
Shao
Rongfen
/ȡiuŋH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ɖuwŋH/
Li
Rong
/ȡiuŋH/
Wang
Li
/ȡĭuŋH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ȡʱi̯uŋH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
zhòng
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
zhòng
Middle
Chinese
‹ drjuwngH ›
Old
Chinese
/*N-truŋ-s/
English middle (of brothers)

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. 17419
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*duŋs/

Etymology 1

Derived from Old Chinese .

Definitions

  1. (only in compounds, no longer productive) second, especially when referring to seniority of siblings. See usage notes of .
       zhòng   superior and inferior, competition, comparison
  2. (only in compounds, no longer productive) middle.
       zhòngxià   midsummer

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Maybe derived from etymology 1, or a variant of .

Definitions

  1. (Cantonese) still (referring to time)
    而家 [Cantonese, trad.]
    而家 [Cantonese, simp.]
    Keoi5 ji4 gaa1 dou1zung6 sik6 gan2 faan6. [Jyutping]
    He is still eating, even now.

Etymology 3

From Japanese (naka, social relationship). The Japanese word adopted this character by reinterpretation, itself derived from (naka, inside).

Definitions

  1. (only in compounds, no longer productive) relation.
       zhòngcái   arbitration

Japanese

Kanji in this term
なか
Grade: 4
kun'yomi

Noun

(hiragana なか, romaji naka)

  1. relationship, terms

Derived terms

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds


Korean

Hanja

(jung) (hangeul , revised jung, McCune-Reischauer chung)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

(trọng)

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

References