Translingual

Han character

匙 (radical 21 匕+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 日人心 (AOP), four-corner 6180₁, composition ⿺是匕)

References

• KangXi: page 153, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2590
• Dae Jaweon: page 344, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 263, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5319

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 匙
Large seal script	Small seal script

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

匙

1. spoon

Derived terms

See also

• 勺 (sháo), 勺子 (sháozi)
• 調羹／调羹 (tiáogēng)

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

匙

1. key

Synonyms

Derived terms

Japanese

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. spoon

Readings

• Goon: じ (ji)
• Kan’on: し (shi)
• Kan’yōon: ひ (hi)
• Kun: かい (kai), さじ (saji), しゃじ (shaji), すくい (sukui)

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 匙 ‎(zhiɛ, “spoon”). The goon, so likely the earliest borrowing from Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑi]

Suffix

匙 ‎(hiragana じ, romaji -ji)

1. spoon, scoop

Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 匙 ‎(zhiɛ, “spoon”). The kan'on, so a later borrowing. Compare modern Cantonese 匙 ‎(ci⁴), Min Nan 匙 ‎(sî).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• IPA^(key): [ɕi]

Suffix

匙 ‎(hiragana し, romaji -shi)

1. spoon, scoop

Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Likely an alteration of the kan'on reading shi: /si/ → /hi/

Pronunciation

• Kan'yōyomi
• IPA^(key): [çi]

Alternative forms

• 匕

Affix

匙 ‎(hiragana ひ, romaji hi)

1. spoon, scoop

Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 4

From Old Japanese 貝 ‎(kai, “shellfish, clam; clam shell”), from the way that clam shells were used as scoops.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ka̠i]

Alternative forms

• 匕

Noun

匙 ‎(hiragana かい, romaji kai, historical hiragana かひ)

1. (obsolete) a scoop for food
2. (archaic, rare) a wooden sword for training

   This sense developed from an ateji spelling of 木刀 (literally, “wooden blade”) applied to the food scoop meaning.

Derived terms

Etymology 5

匙 (saji): a spoon.

Originally a compound of 茶 ‎(sa, “tea”) +‎ 匙 ‎(ji, “spoon, scoop”).^[1][2][2][3] This on'yomi reading for a two-character term was then applied to the single-character 匙 spelling, and re-interpreted as kun'yomi.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) さ​じ [sáꜜjì] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• (Tokyo) さじ​ [sàjíꜜ] (Odaka - [2])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠d͡ʑi]

Alternative forms

• 匕

Noun

匙 ‎(hiragana さじ, romaji saji)

1. spoon, scoop used for food

   私 (わたし)たちはさじでスープを飲 (の)む。

   Watashitachi wa saji de sūpu o nomu.

   We eat soup with a spoon.

2. more specifically, a spoon or scoop used for compounding medicine
3. by extension, medicine
4. by further extension, a doctor

Usage notes

In modern Japanese, the term スプーン ‎(supūn) is used to refer to spoons in general, including spoons as found in the Western world. The term saji generally refers more to the broad, usually flat-bottomed Asian-style spoon shown at right.

The saji reading is the most common in modern Japanese when using this term as a standalone noun.

Derived terms

Idioms

Synonyms

Etymology 6

Appears to be an alteration of saji above: [sad͡ʑi] → [ɕad͡ʑi]^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) しゃじ​ [shàjíꜜ] (Odaka - [2])^[2]
• (Tokyo) しゃ​じ [sháꜜjì] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ɕa̠d͡ʑi]

Noun

匙 ‎(hiragana しゃじ, romaji shaji)

1. spoon

Usage notes

This reading does not appear to be as common as the saji reading above. May be dialectal.

Etymology 7

Alternate spelling of 掬い ‎(sukui, “scoop”), the 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 掬う ‎(sukuu, “to scoop”).^[1]

Rare. Only found in compounds.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [sɯᵝkɯᵝi]

Noun

匙 ‎(hiragana すくい, romaji sukui, historical hiragana すくひ)

1. (rare) a scoop

Usage notes

Although the general term sukui can serve as a standalone noun, this particular 匙 spelling for sukui is only found in compounds.

Derived terms

References

1. 1 2 3 4 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. 1 2 3 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, ISBN 4-09-501211-0

Korean

Hanja

匙 • ‎(si) (hangeul 시, revised si, McCune-Reischauer si)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

匙 (thi, thìa, thì, chuỷ)

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