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Definition 2024

四

四

四 U+56DB, 四
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-56DB
← 囚
[U+56DA] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 囜 →
[U+56DC]
See also: 西, 匹, and 㓁

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

四 (radical 31 囗+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 田金 (WC), four-corner 60210, composition ⿴囗儿)

References

  • KangXi: page 216, character 22
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4682
  • Dae Jaweon: page 439, character 21
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 710, character 16
  • Unihan data for U+56DB

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 四
alt. forms
 
肆 financial
亖
皿
龱
𠁤
𠃢
𦉭

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 四
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (四) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
訵 *l̥ʰids
四 *hljids
泗 *hljids
駟 *hljids
柶 *hljids
牭 *hljids
呬 *hrids

The original shell and bone character was 一 written four times, 亖 (compare 二 and 三). The bronzeware style of the character featured a repositioning of those four lines inside 口; this later evolved into the combination used today of 口 (“mouth”) and 八 (“divide”) which meant a dispersal of breath. It could thus be said that four is a borrowed meaning for this character. The original sense is preserved in 呬 (OC *hrids), by adding an extra 口.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ləj.

As superstition, 四 (MC siɪH) is avoided because it is similar to 死 (MC sˠiɪX, “death”) in sound.

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 四
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 脂 (15)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 息利切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /siɪH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /siH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /sjɪH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /siH/
Li
Rong		 /siH/
Wang
Li		 /siH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /siH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 sì
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 四
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 sì
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ sijH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*s.li[j]-s/
English four

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 四
Reading # 1/1
No. 12022
Phonetic
component		 四
Rime
group		 至
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 四
Old
Chinese		 /*hljids/

Definitions

四

  1. four
  2. (music) la (musical note)
  3. (printing) English; The size of type between 小四 (little 4) and 小三 (little 3), standardized as 14 point.

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (四):

Others:

See also

Chinese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102 103 104 108 1012
Cardinal 〇 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 百 千 萬
万 		億
亿 		兆
Financial 零 壹 貳
贰 		參
叁 		肆 伍 陸
陆 		柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟 萬
万 		億
亿 		兆
Playing cards in Chinese · 撲克牌／扑克牌 (pūkèpái) (layout · text)
A 二 三 四 五 六 七
八 九 十 J Q K 小王 ‎(black), 大王 ‎(red)

Japanese

Japanese cardinal numbers
 <  3 4 5  > 
    Cardinal : 四

Etymology 1

/yo2/ *[jə] > /yo/ [jo].

Pronunciation

Noun

四 ‎(hiragana よ, romaji yo)

  1. four

Etymology 2

Native 四 ‎(yo, “four”) + n, influenced by analogy by the final sound in Chinese 三 ‎(san, “three”).

Pronunciation

Noun

四 ‎(hiragana よん, romaji yon)

  1. four

Etymology 3

Sino-Japanese reading.

Pronunciation

Noun

四 ‎(hiragana し, romaji shi)

  1. four
  2. fourth

Etymology 4

From 亖 ‎(“four”). The parallel lines have since evolved into an approximation of what a fist looks when viewed palm side down.

Kanji

四

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings
Compounds
Derived terms

References

Korean

Hanja

四 • ‎(sa)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 사 (revised: sa, McCune-Reischauer: sa, Yale: sa)
  • Name (hangeul): 넷 (revised: neok, McCune-Reischauer: nŏk, Yale: nek)
  1. four

Compounds

Mulam

Numeral

四 ‎(ti5)

  1. four

Vietnamese

Han character

四 (tứ, tớ, tư)

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

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