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Definition 2024

可

可

可 U+53EF, 可
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-53EF
← 叮
[U+53EE] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 台 →
[U+53F0]
See also: 句

Translingual

Stroke order
Stroke order

Han character

可 (radical 30 口+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 一弓口 (MNR), four-corner 10620, composition ⿹丁口)

Derived characters

References

  • KangXi: page 172, character 12
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3245
  • Dae Jaweon: page 383, character 7
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 567, character 7
  • Unihan data for U+53EF

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 可

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 可
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (可) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
砢 *ɡ·raːlʔ
柯 *kaːl
菏 *kaːl, *ɡaːl
牁 *kaːl
滒 *kaːl
哥 *kaːl
歌 *kaːl
謌 *kaːl
鴚 *kaːl
哿 *kaːlʔ
舸 *kaːlʔ
笴 *kaːlʔ, *kaːnʔ
軻 *kʰaːl, *kʰaːlʔ, *kʰaːls
珂 *kʰaːl
可 *kʰaːlʔ
岢 *kʰaːlʔ
坷 *kʰaːlʔ, *kʰaːls
蚵 *kʰaːls, *ɡaːl
呵 *qʰaːl, *qʰaːls
訶 *qʰaːl
抲 *qʰaːl
荷 *qʰaːls, *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ
何 *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ
河 *ɡaːl
苛 *ɡaːl
魺 *ɡaːl
袔 *ɡaːls
阿 *qaːl
妸 *qaːl, *qaːlʔ
疴 *qaːl, *kʰraːls
鈳 *qaːl
娿 *qaːl, *qaːlʔ
痾 *qaːl
跒 *kʰraːlʔ
閜 *qʰraːlʔ

Ideogram (指事) – possibly Simplified from 奇, eliminating 大 and using 可 for sound — compare 無 from 舞.

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kʰaːlʔ) : semantic 口 + phonetic 丂 ‎(OC *kʰluːʔ).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 可
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 溪 (29)
Final (韻) 歌 (94)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 枯我切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kʰɑX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kʰɑX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /kʰɑX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kʰaX/
Li
Rong		 /kʰɑX/
Wang
Li		 /kʰɑX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /kʰɑX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 kě
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 可
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 kě
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ khaX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[k]ʰˤa[j]ʔ/
English may; acceptable

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 可
Reading # 1/1
No. 7446
Phonetic
component		 可
Rime
group		 歌
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 可
Old
Chinese		 /*kʰaːlʔ/

Definitions

可

  1. can, may, be able to
  2. Particle used for emphasis.
    • 我可不太知道。  ―  Wǒ kě bù tài zhīdào.  ―  I don't really know.
  3. to approve, to permit
  4. to suit
    • 可心 (kěxīn, “satisfying”)
  5. to be worth doing
  6. Prefix attached to verbs, expressing possibility and turning them into adjectives. Similar to the English suffix -able.
    可吃  ―  kěchī  ―  edible
    可愛 / 可爱  ―  kěài  ―  lovely
    可憐 / 可怜  ―  kělián  ―  pitiful
  7. Short for 可是 (kěshì, “but”).

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

可

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Noun

可 ‎(hiragana か, romaji ka)

  1. passable

See also

Suffix

可 ‎(hiragana か, romaji -ka)

  1. permitted, allowed, licensed

Korean

Hanja

可 • ‎(ga, geuk) (hangeul 가, 극, McCune-Reischauer ka, kŭk)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

可 (khả, khá, tài)

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

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