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Definition 2024


Translingual

Shinjitai
Simplified
Traditional

Alternative forms

Appears with (2 dots) in Chinese, yielding , but with simplified form (1 cross stroke) in Japanese shinjitai, yielding = 氵 + . These are however encoded with the same Unicode character – see Han unification.

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 85 +7 in Chinese, 水+6 in Japanese, in Chinese 10 strokes, in Japanese 9 strokes, cangjie input 水人田卜 (EOWY), four-corner 38157, composition)

References

  • KangXi: page 625, character 14
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17450
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1023, character 11
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 1627, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+6D77

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*mɯːs, *mɯː, *mɯːs
*mlɯːʔ, *mɯːʔ
*hmlɯːʔ
*ʔmɯː, *ʔmɯːʔ
*mɯ
*mɯʔ
*mɯʔ
*mɯʔ
*mɯʔ, *mɯs, *maːʔ
*mɯʔ
*mɯʔ
*mɯs, *mɯːʔ, *mɯːs
*mɯs, *mɯː, *mɯːs
*mrɯʔ, *mrɯŋʔ
*mrɯŋʔ
*mrɯŋʔ
*ma
*mɯː
*mɯː
*mɯː
*mɯːʔ
*mɯːs
*mɯːs, *hmɯːs
*hmɯːs
*hmɯːs
*hmɯːʔ, *hmɯːs
*mrɯl

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *hmlɯːʔ) : semantic  (water) + phonetic  (OC *mɯːʔ).

Etymology

Probably related to (OC *hmɯːs, “dark”); in numerous Zhou texts is described as (Schuessler, 2007).

Compare the parallelism in Chinese: (OC *meːŋ, *meːŋʔ, “ocean”) < (OC *meːŋ, “dark”).

Pronunciation



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /xai²¹⁴/
Harbin /xai²¹³/
Tianjin /xai¹³/
Jinan /xɛ⁵⁵/
Qingdao /xɛ⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /xai⁵³/
Xi'an /xai⁵³/
Xining /xɛ⁵³/
Yinchuan /xɛ⁵³/
Lanzhou /xɛ⁴⁴²/
Ürümqi /xai⁵¹/
Wuhan /xai⁴²/
Chengdu /xai⁵³/
Guiyang /xai⁴²/
Kunming /xæ⁵³/
Nanjing /xae²¹²/
Hefei /xe̞²⁴/
Jin Taiyuan /xai⁵³/
Pingyao /xæ⁵³/
Hohhot /xɛ⁵³/
Wu Shanghai /he³⁵/
Suzhou /he̞⁵¹/
Hangzhou /he̞⁵³/
Wenzhou /he³⁵/
Hui Shexian /xɛ³⁵/
Tunxi /xuə³¹/
Xiang Changsha /xai⁴¹/
Xiangtan /xai⁴²/
Gan Nanchang /hai²¹³/
Hakka Meixian /hoi³¹/
Taoyuan /hoi³¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /hɔi³⁵/
Nanning /hɔi³⁵/
Hong Kong /hɔi³⁵/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /hai⁵³/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /hai³²/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /xuɛ²¹/
Shantou (Min Nan) /hai⁵³/
Haikou (Min Nan) /hai²¹³/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (32)
Final () (41)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () I
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/hʌiX/
Pan
Wuyun
/həiX/
Shao
Rongfen
/xɒiX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/həjX/
Li
Rong
/xᴀiX/
Wang
Li
/xɒiX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/xɑ̆iX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
hǎi
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
hǎi
Middle
Chinese
‹ xojX ›
Old
Chinese
/*m̥ˤəʔ/ (dialect *m̥ˤ- > x-)
English sea

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. 9283
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*hmlɯːʔ/

Definitions

  1. sea; ocean
  2. big lake
  3. overseas; abroad
  4. (figuratively) sea; abundance; infiniteness
  5. (regional) profuse; numerous
  6. unrestrainedly; randomly; casually
  7. A surname. Hai (mainland China, Taiwan), Hoi (Hong Kong)

Compounds


Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. sea
  2. ocean

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
うみ
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese.

May derive from a compound of (u, stem indicating “ocean”; compare (uo, fish), (ushio, salt water)) + (mi, water).

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana うみ, romaji umi)

  1. sea, ocean
Usage notes

This is the most common general term in modern Japanese for sea or ocean.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
わた
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese.

May be related to Goguryeo 波旦 (padan). Possibly cognate with Korean 바다 (bada, ocean, sea).

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana わた, romaji wata)

  1. (obsolete) sea, ocean
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term

Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Either cognate with (mi, water), or an abbreviation of umi above.

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana , romaji mi)

  1. (obsolete) sea, ocean
Derived terms

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
  • 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Korean

Hanja

(hae) (hangeul , McCune-Reischauer hae, Yale hay)

  1. sea, ocean

Compounds


Mulam

Noun

(hai3)

  1. sea

Vietnamese

Han character

(hải, hẩy, hấy)

  1. sea, ocean