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Definition 2025

偷

偷

偷 U+5077, 偷
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5077
← 偶
[U+5076] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 偸 →
[U+5078]
See also: 偸

Translingual

Han character

偷 (radical 9 人+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 人人一弓 (OOMN), four-corner 28221, composition ⿰亻俞)

References

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 偷
alt. forms 偸

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 偷
Large seal script

L33701

L12183

L12184
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 (俞) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
褕 *low, *lo
偷 *l̥ʰoː
媮 *l̥ʰoː, *lo
鍮 *l̥ʰoː
緰 *l'oː, *slo
牏 *l'oː, *l'os, *lo
揄 *l'oː, *l'oːʔ, *lu, *lo
窬 *l'oː, *l'oːs, *lo
歈 *l'oː, *lo
俞 *l̥ʰus, *lo
隃 *slo, *hljo, *hljos, *lo
毹 *sro
輸 *hljo, *hljos
鄃 *hljo, *lo
腧 *hljos
逾 *lo
榆 *lo
愉 *lo
渝 *lo
瑜 *lo
蕍 *lo
覦 *lo, *los
蝓 *lo
踰 *lo
崳 *lo
羭 *lo
堬 *lo
瘉 *lo, *loʔ
萮 *lo
騟 *lo
愈 *loʔ
貐 *loʔ
喻 *los
諭 *los

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *l̥ʰoː) : semantic 亻 + phonetic 俞 ‎(OC *l̥ʰus, *lo).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 偷
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 透 (6)
Final (韻) 侯 (137)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 託侯切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /tʰəu/
Pan
Wuyun		 /tʰəu/
Shao
Rongfen		 /tʰəu/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /tʰəw/
Li
Rong		 /tʰu/
Wang
Li		 /tʰəu/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /tʰə̯u/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 tōu
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 偷
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 tōu
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ thuw ›
Old
Chinese		 /*l̥ˤo/
English steal

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 偷
Reading # 1/1
No. 15831
Phonetic
component		 俞
Rime
group		 侯
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 偷
Old
Chinese		 /*l̥ʰoː/

Definitions

偷

  1. to steal; to snatch
    我們的錢被偷了。 / 我们的钱被偷了。  ―  Wǒmen de qián bèi tōu le.  ―  We had our money stolen.
  2. stealthily; secretly; covertly
    偷看  ―  tōukàn  ―  to peek; to peep
    偷聽 / 偷听  ―  tōutīng  ―  to eavesdrop
  3. thief; burglar
    小偷  ―  xiǎotōu  ―  thief
  4. to have an extra-marital relationship
    偷情  ―  tōuqíng  ―  adultery
    偷腥  ―  tōuxīng  ―  to have an affair
    偷漢 / 偷汉  ―  tōuhàn  ―  to take a lover
  5. to while away without purpose
    偷懶 / 偷懒  ―  tōulǎn  ―  to be lazy
    偷生  ―  tōushēng  ―  to live without purpose

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

偷

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

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Readings

Korean

Hanja

偷 • ‎(tu) (hangeul 투, revised tu, McCune-Reischauer t'u)

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Vietnamese

Han character

偷 (thầu, du, thâu)

  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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