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Definition 2024

作

作

作 U+4F5C, 作
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4F5C
← 佛
[U+4F5B] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 佝 →
[U+4F5D]
See also: 做

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

作 (radical 9 人+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人竹尸 (OHS), four-corner 28211, composition ⿰亻乍)

References

  • KangXi: page 99, character 7
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 518
  • Dae Jaweon: page 210, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 134, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+4F5C

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 作

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 作
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Oracle bone script

j19019
Bronze inscriptions

b12327

b12328

b12329

b12330

b12331
Large seal script

L37977

L37978

L37979

L37980

L37981

L27237

L27238

L27239

L27240

L27241

L27242

L27243

L27244
Small seal script

s05788
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 (乍) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
作 *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡ
鲊 *ʔsraːʔ
痄 *ʔsraːʔ
厏 *ʔsraːʔ, *zraːʔ
詐 *ʔsraːɡs
咋 *ʔsraːɡs, *zraːɡ, *ʔsreːɡ
笮 *ʔsraːɡs, *zaːɡ, *ʔsraːɡ
榨 *ʔsraːɡs
炸 *ʔr'aːɡs, *zreːb
乍 *zraːɡs
拃 *ʔsraːnʔ
酢 *sʰaːɡs, *zaːɡ
祚 *zaːɡs
胙 *zaːɡs
阼 *zaːɡs
飵 *zaːɡs, *zaːɡ
秨 *zaːɡs, *zaːɡ
迮 *ʔsaːɡ, *ʔsraːɡ
柞 *ʔsaːɡ, *zaːɡ
昨 *zaːɡ
怍 *zaːɡ
砟 *zaːɡ
莋 *zaːɡ
岝 *zaːɡ, *zraːɡ
鈼 *zaːɡ
筰 *zaːɡ
葃 *zaːɡ, *zreːɡ, *zaɡ
舴 *ʔr'aːɡ, *ʔsraːɡ
窄 *ʔsraːɡ
蚱 *ʔsraːɡ
齚 *zraːɡ
泎 *zraːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡ) : semantic 亻 ‎(“man”) + phonetic 乍 ‎(OC *zraːɡs).

Etymology

Derivative: 做 (“to do”) (the departing-tone variant).

Pronunciation 1

  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 作
Mandarin Beijing /t͡suo⁵¹/
/t͡suo⁵⁵/
Harbin /t͡suo⁵³/ 工～
/t͡suo²⁴/ ～料
Tianjin /t͡suo⁵³/ 工～
/t͡suo²¹/ ～坊
Jinan /t͡suə²¹³/
/t͡suə²¹/
Qingdao /t͡suə⁴²/ ～息
/t͡suə⁵⁵/ 工～
Zhengzhou /t͡suo²⁴/ 工～
/t͡suo⁴²/ ～料
Xi'an /t͡suo²¹/
Xining /t͡su⁴⁴/
Yinchuan /t͡suə¹³/
Lanzhou /t͡suə¹³/
Ürümqi /t͡suɤ²¹³/
Wuhan /t͡suo²¹³/
Chengdu /t͡so³¹/
Guiyang /t͡so²¹/
Kunming /t͡so³¹/
Nanjing /t͡soʔ⁵/
Hefei /t͡suɐʔ⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /t͡suaʔ²/
Pingyao /t͡sʌʔ¹³/
Hohhot /t͡suaʔ⁴³/
Wu Shanghai /t͡soʔ⁵/
Suzhou /t͡soʔ⁵/
Hangzhou /t͡soʔ⁵/
Wenzhou /t͡so²¹³/
Hui Shexian /t͡sɔʔ²¹/
Tunxi /t͡so⁵/
Xiang Changsha /t͡so²⁴/
Xiangtan /t͡so²⁴/
Gan Nanchang /t͡sɔʔ⁵/
Hakka Meixian /t͡sok̚¹/
Taoyuan /t͡sok̚²²/
Cantonese Guangzhou /t͡sɔk̚³/
Nanning /t͡sɔk̚³³/
Hong Kong /t͡sɔk̚³/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /t͡sɔk̚³²/
/t͡soʔ³²/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /t͡sɔuʔ²³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /t͡sɔ²⁴/
Shantou (Min Nan) /t͡sak̚²/
/t͡soʔ²/
Haikou (Min Nan) /to⁵⁵/
Rime
Character 作 作 作
Reading # 1/3 2/3 3/3
Initial (聲) 精 (13) 精 (13) 精 (13)
Final (韻) 模 (23) 歌 (94) 鐸 (103)
Tone (調) Departing (H) Departing (H) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open Open
Division (等) I I I
Fanqie 臧祚切 則箇切 則落切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /t͡suoH/ /t͡sɑH/ /t͡sɑk̚/
Pan
Wuyun		 /t͡suoH/ /t͡sɑH/ /t͡sɑk̚/
Shao
Rongfen		 /t͡soH/ /t͡sɑH/ /t͡sɑk̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /t͡sɔH/ /t͡saH/ /t͡sak̚/
Li
Rong		 /t͡soH/ /t͡sɑH/ /t͡sɑk̚/
Wang
Li		 /t͡suH/ /t͡sɑH/ /t͡sɑk̚/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /t͡suoH/ /t͡sɑH/ /t͡sɑk̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 zù zuò zuo
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 作 作
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 zuò zuò
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ tsak › ‹ tsuH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[ts]ˤak/ /*[ts]ˤak-s/
English do, work do, work

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 作 作 作
Reading # 1/3 2/3 3/3
No. 16641 16653 16661
Phonetic
component		 乍 乍 乍
Rime
group		 暮 暮 鐸
Rime
subdivision		 0 0 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 佐 作 作
Old
Chinese		 /*ʔsaːɡs/ /*ʔsaːɡs/ /*ʔsaːɡ/
Notes 祚原誤衤旁巾箱本不誤 乍轉註字

Definitions

作

  1. † to get up (from a place)
  2. † to get up (in the morning) and go to work
  3. † to begin to grow; to come into being
  4. † to arise; to come about; to happen; to occur; to break out
  5. to do; to perform; to carry out
    你在作什麼？ / 你在作什么？  ―  Nǐ zài zuò shénme?  ―  What are you doing?
  6. to work; to exert oneself
  7. to make; to manufacture
  8. to compose; to write
    作者  ―  zuòzhě  ―  author
  9. † to brace oneself; to boost
  10. † to feign; to pretend
  11. to work as; to serve as
  12. † to build; to construct
  13. † to play; to perform
  14. † to emit; to give out
  15. † to start; to launch
  16. † to be like; similar
  17. †Alternative form of 詛／诅 (zǔ, “to curse; to damn”).
  18. work; composition; article
  19. †affair; matter
  20. †measure; action
Synonyms

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

作

  1. workshop; studio; workroom
  2. (neologism, originally dialectal) contrived; artificial; affected; pretentious; dramatic; high-maintenance

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

作

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Related terms

  • 抜け作

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
作
さく
Grade: 2
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 作 ‎(tsak, “to do, to work”). Compare modern Cantonese reading zok3, Wu tsoq (T4).

Pronunciation 1

Noun

作 ‎(hiragana さく, romaji saku)

  1. a work, a production (particularly a cultural work, such as a work of art, of literature, or of theatre)

Pronunciation 2

Noun

作 ‎(hiragana さく, romaji saku)

  1. a crop, a harvest

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
作
つく(り)
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

The 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 作る ‎(tsukuru, “to make; to build; to work the land, to grow something”), itself from Old Japanese.[2]

Pronunciation 1

Noun

作 ‎(hiragana つくり, romaji tsukuri)

  1. the workmanship or make of something, how something is made
    作 (つく)りのいい家具 (かぐ)
    tsukuri no ii kagu
    furniture of good make or workmanship, well-made furniture
  2. make-up, dress, comportment: how one dresses and comports oneself
    派手 (はで)な作 (つく)りは嫌 (きら)いだ。
    Hade na tsukuri wa kirai da.
    I dislike colorful / flashy dress.
  3. a helping or serving of fresh sashimi, usually several slices
    鮭 (しゃけ)の作 (つく)りを楽 (たの)しみにしている。
    Shake no tsukuri o tanoshimi ni shite iru.
    I'm looking forward to a helping of salmon sashimi.
Usage notes

More often spelled with the okurigana, as 作り.

Pronunciation 2

  • Kun'yomi
  • IPA(key): [zɯᵝkɯᵝɾi]
  • The -tsukuri changes to -zukuri as an instance of rendaku (連濁).
Suffix

作 ‎(hiragana づくり, romaji -zukuri)

  1. the making of something, particularly as in cultivation
    庭 (にわ)作 (づく)り、バラ作 (づく)り
    niwazukuri, barazukuri
    gardening / garden cultivation, rose cultivation / growing roses
Usage notes

More often spelled with the okurigana, as 作り.

References

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

Korean

Hanja

作 • ‎(jak, ju) (hangeul 작, 주, McCune-Reischauer chak, chu)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

作 (tác, tố)

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

References

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