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Definition 2024


See also: and

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 208 鼠+0, 13 strokes, cangjie input 竹X女卜女 (HXVYV), four-corner 77717)

  1. Kangxi radical #208, (rat).

References

  • KangXi: page 1527, character 14
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 48390
  • Dae Jaweon: page 2063, character 23
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4772, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+9F20

Chinese

simp. and trad.
alt. forms

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*hljaʔ
*hljaʔ

Pictogram (象形) – a mouse or rat.

Pronunciation



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /ʂu²¹⁴/
Harbin /ʂu²¹³/
Tianjin /ʂu¹³/
/su¹³/
Jinan /ʂu⁵⁵/
Qingdao /ʃu⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /ʂu⁵³/
Xi'an /fu⁵³/
Xining /fv̩⁵³/
Yinchuan /ʈ͡ʂʰu⁵³/
/ʂu⁵³/
Lanzhou /p͡fʰu⁴⁴²/
Ürümqi /ʈ͡ʂʰu⁵¹/
Wuhan /ɕy⁴²/
Chengdu /su⁵³/
Guiyang /su⁴²/
Kunming /ʈ͡ʂʰu⁵³/
Nanjing /ʈ͡ʂʰu²¹²/
Hefei /ʈ͡ʂʰu²⁴/
Jin Taiyuan /su⁵³/
Pingyao /sz̩ʷ⁵³/
Hohhot /su⁵³/
Wu Shanghai /t͡sʰz̩³⁵/
Suzhou /t͡sʰz̩ʷ⁵¹/
Hangzhou /t͡sʰz̩ʷ⁵³/
Wenzhou /t͡sʰei³⁵/
Hui Shexian /t͡ɕʰy³⁵/
Tunxi /t͡ɕʰy³¹/
Xiang Changsha /ɕy⁴¹/
Xiangtan /ɕy⁵⁵/
Gan Nanchang /ɕy²¹³/
Hakka Meixian /t͡sʰu³¹/
Taoyuan /tʃʰu³¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /sy³⁵/
Nanning /sy³⁵/
Hong Kong /sy³⁵/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /su⁵³/
/t͡sʰu⁵³/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /t͡sʰy³²/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /t͡sʰy²¹/
Shantou (Min Nan) /t͡sʰɯ⁵³/
Haikou (Min Nan) /siu²¹³/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (26)
Final () (22)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ɕɨʌX/
Pan
Wuyun
/ɕiɔX/
Shao
Rongfen
/ɕiɔX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ɕɨə̆X/
Li
Rong
/ɕiɔX/
Wang
Li
/ɕĭoX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ɕi̯woX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
shǔ
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 11801
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*hljaʔ/

Definitions

  1. rat; mouse; rodent
       lǎoshǔ   mouse, rat
  2. cowardly; timid
  3. (TCM) scrofula; scrofulous

Compounds


Japanese

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

  1. mouse, rat, other similar rodent

Readings

Etymology 1

(mouse)
(rat)
(Muroidae: a common vole)
 
鼠(鼠色
grey
Kanji in this term
ねずみ
Hyōgaiji
kun'yomi

Originally a compound of (ne, root, more specifically signifying somewhere hidden away) + 住み (sumi, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 住む sumu, “to live in a place, to reside”), meaning roughly “one who lives in hidden places”. The sumi changes to zumi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana ねずみ, katakana ネズミ, romaji nezumi)

  1. (zoology) a mouse, a rat
  2. general term for members of superfamily Muroidea, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, gerbils, and other similar rodents
  3. short for 鼠色 (nezumi iro): the colour grey, sometimes more specifically a dark grey colour
Usage notes

Japanese does not generally distinguish between mice and rats, and both are commonly called nezumi. If a distinction is needed, speakers may use the adjectives 大きい (ōkii, large) or 小さい (chīsai, small), or may use the word マウス (mausu, mouse, borrowed from either German or English).

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as ネズミ.

Note that, although the Japanese term 子年 (nezumidoshi, nedoshi) for The Year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac does derive from this same nezumi term, it is not written with this kanji.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
ねず
Hyōgaiji
kun'yomi

Abbreviation of nezumi. Used in some compounds.[2][3]

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana ねず, romaji nezu)

  1. a mouse, a rat
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term

Hyōgaiji
kun'yomi

Abbreviation of nezumi. Used in some compounds.[2][3]

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana , romaji ne)

  1. a mouse, a rat
Derived terms

References

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

Korean

Hanja

(seo)
Eumhun:

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

Vietnamese

Han character

(thử)

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