Definify.com

Definition 2024


See also: , , , , , , and

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 39 子+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 弓木 (ND), four-corner 17407, composition)

  1. Kangxi radical #39, (child).

Derived characters

  • Index:Chinese radical/子

Related characters

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: page 277, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6930
  • Dae Jaweon: page 543, character 15
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1006, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+5B50

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*ʔslɯ
*ʔslɯ, *ʔslɯʔ
*ʔslɯ, *zlɯs
*ʔslɯʔ
*ʔslɯʔ
*ʔslɯʔ
*ʔslɯʔ
*ʔslɯʔ
*ʔslɯʔ
*zlɯs
*zlɯs
*zlɯs
*zlɯs
*rɯʔ

Pictogram (象形) – an image of a baby, with a large head and spread arms. The legs are wrapped in a blanket. Compare with , where the arms are wrapped. Also compare , of the same origin.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za (child, offspring, relatives; to come forth (as child at birth); to love; loving).

Cognate with (OC *zlɯs, “character; letter”), (OC *zɯ, “loving; kind”), (OC *ʔsɯ, “to grow, to breed, to propagate, to bring about, to increase”), (OC *ʔsɯ, *zɯs, “to breed, to propagate”).

Pronunciation 1



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (13)
Final () (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/t͡sɨX/
Pan
Wuyun
/t͡sɨX/
Shao
Rongfen
/t͡sieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/t͡sɨX/
Li
Rong
/t͡siəX/
Wang
Li
/t͡sĭəX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/t͡siX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ tsiX › ‹ tsiX ›
Old
Chinese
/*[ts]əʔ/ /*tsəʔ/
English 1st earthly branch child; gentleman, master

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. 17857
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ʔslɯʔ/

Definitions

  1. child, offspring
  2. son
  3. descendant, posterity
  4. person
    •       female; woman
  5. master, teacher
  6. A respectful suffix for teachers, usually attached to their surnames.
  7. you
  8. Alternative form of (, “seed”).
    • 葵花   kuíhuā   sunflower seed
  9. egg
  10. young; tender; small
  11. Prefix attached to nouns, denoting "a part of", "belonging to" or "individual". sub-
    • 目錄 / 目录   mùlù   subdirectory
  12. (astrology) First earthly branch: rat in the Chinese zodiac, 11th solar month, 11pm to 1am (midnight)
  13. Viscount, fourth of five ranks of Chinese aristocracy under the Zhou dynasty.
  14. (physics, biology) -on
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 兒子 (“son”)
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 兒子
Mandarin Beijing 兒子小子
Taiwan 兒子
Tianjin 兒子小子
Harbin 兒子
Shenyang 兒子
Jinan 兒子小子
Muping 兒郎
Luoyang 兒子
Wanrong
Xi'an 兒子
Xining 兒子
Xuzhou 兒子
Yinchuan 兒子
Ürümqi 兒子
Wuhan 兒子
Chengdu 兒子
Guiyang 兒子、男娃娃、男娃兒
Liuzhou
Kunming 兒子
Yangzhou 兒子
Nanjing 兒子
Hefei 兒子
Cantonese Guangzhou
Hong Kong
Dongguan
Taishan
Yangjiang
Gan Nanchang
Lichuan
Pingxiang
Hakka Meixian 倈仔
Yudu
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 倈仔
Liudui (S. Sixian) 倈仔
Hsinchu (Hailu) 倈仔
Dongshi (Dabu)
Zhuolan (Raoping) 倈仔
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 後生
Hui Jixi 兒子
Jin Taiyuan 兒子小子
Xinzhou 小子
Min Bei Jian'ou
Min Dong Fuzhou 丈夫囝
Min Nan Quanzhou 後生
Xiamen 後生後的
Zhangzhou 後生
Taipei 後生
Kaohsiung 後生
Tainan 後生後的
Taichung 後生
Yilan 後生
Lukang 後生
Sanxia 後生
Kinmen 後生
Magong 後生
Hsinchu 後生
Malaysia 後生
Chaozhou 、逗囝
Haikou
Pinghua Nanning
Wu Shanghai 兒子
Suzhou 兒子
Hangzhou 兒子
Wenzhou
Chongming 兒子
Danyang 兒子
Jinhua
Ningbo 兒子
Xiang Changsha 崽伢子、、伢子
Shuangfeng 、伢基
Loudi

Pronunciation 2



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (13)
Final () (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/t͡sɨX/
Pan
Wuyun
/t͡sɨX/
Shao
Rongfen
/t͡sieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/t͡sɨX/
Li
Rong
/t͡siəX/
Wang
Li
/t͡sĭəX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/t͡siX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ tsiX › ‹ tsiX ›
Old
Chinese
/*[ts]əʔ/ /*tsəʔ/
English 1st earthly branch child; gentleman, master

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. 17857
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ʔslɯʔ/

Definitions

  1. Suffix for small objects or general diminutive suffix.
    •    píngzi   bottle
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of (“general diminutive suffix”)
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)
Mandarin Beijing
Taiwan
Cantonese Guangzhou
Hong Kong
Hakka Meixian
Miaoli (N. Sixian)
Liudui (S. Sixian)
Hsinchu (Hailu)
Min Dong Fuzhou
Min Nan Xiamen

Pronunciation 3


Definitions

(Hokkien)

  1. small, round object
  2. (Xiamen, Quanzhou) Classifier for small objects.
  3. (Zhangzhou, Taiwan) Classifier for bananas.

Compounds

Appendix:Chinese compounds/子

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Old Japanese.[1] Seen in the Kojiki and the Man'yōshū, two of the oldest examples of written Japanese. Cognate with (ko, silkworm). Also possibly cognate with (ko, little, diminutive prefix).

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

  • (less commonly used)

Noun

(hiragana , romaji ko)

  1. a child
    男のおとこのotoko no ko — male child: a boy
    いいいいii ko — good boy; good girl
  2. (figuratively) a girl, especially a dear or desired one (compare use of English baby, babe)
    • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 7, poem 1266); text here
      大舟乎 荒海尓榜出 八船多氣 吾見之等之 目見者知之母
      大船を 荒海に漕ぎ出で や船たけ 我が見しらが まみはしるしも
      おほぶねを あるみにこぎで やふねたけ わがみしらが まみはしるしも
      Ōbune o / arumi ni kogi de / ya fune take / waga mishi kora ga / mami wa shirushi mo
      Rowing the big boat into the rough seas, putting our backs into it, the looks of those girls I saw are clear [in my mind]}}
  3. a smaller or younger version of a bigger object
    きのkinoko — a "tree's child / little one": a mushroom
    竹のたけのtakenoko — a "bamboo's child / little one": a bamboo shoot
Derived terms

Prefix

(hiragana , romaji ko-)

  1. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
    会社 がいしゃkogaisha — a subsidiary
    いぬkoinu — a puppy
Derived terms

Suffix

(hiragana , romaji -ko)

  1. suffix used in female given names, such as 智子 (ともこ, Tomoko), 英子 (えいこ, Eiko), 秀子 (ひでこ, Hideko), 美奈子 (みなこ, Minako)
  2. (rare) suffix used in male given names
  3. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
    ふりfuriko — an object that swings: a pendulum
  4. roe (only when preceded by a fish name, or fish-related prefix)
    明太めんたいmentaiko — pollock roe
    とびtobiko — flying fish roe
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
on'yomi
Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (tsiX). Compare modern Mandarin ().

The goon reading of shi is likely the original borrowing. The tōon reading su appears later, and only shows up in certain set terms borrowed from Chinese, where it seems to serve as a kind of nominalizing suffix.

Pronunciation

Affix

(hiragana , romaji shi) (alternative reading hiragana , romaji su)

  1. a child
  2. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
  3. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
    中性ちゅうせいchūseishi — a neutral small thing: a neutron
    isu — literally, a chair small thing: a chair
Usage notes
  • This affix is never used in isolation. It is only used in on'yomi compounds.
  • In some kanji compounds, is part of the word but does not carry much meaning in Japanese, as in 椅子 (isu, chair). Possibly because of this erosion of meaning, spelling out in some compounds has become optional, as in 椰子 vs. (yashi, a palm tree), or 柚子 vs. (yuzu, an aromatic citron).
  • In some compounds, the shi or su reading becomes voiced as ji or zu due to rendaku.
Derived terms

References

  1. 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  3. 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

(ja)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul):  (McCune-Reischauer: cha)
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

(tử, , , tở, bình, huỳnh)

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

References