子
Translingual
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Han character
子 (radical 39, 子+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 弓木 (ND), four-corner 17407, composition ⿻了一)
- Kangxi radical #39, ⼦.
Derived characters
References
- KangXi: page 277, character 1
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6930
- Dae Jaweon: page 543, character 15
- Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1006, character 6
- Unihan data for U+5B50
Chinese
| simp. and trad. |
子 | |
|---|---|---|
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 子 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shang | Western Zhou | Warring States | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) |
| Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Chu Slip and silk script | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
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| Characters in the same phonetic series (子) (Zhengzhang, 2003) | |
|---|---|
| Old Chinese | |
| 孜 | *ʔslɯ |
| 仔 | *ʔslɯ, *ʔslɯʔ |
| 孖 | *ʔslɯ, *zlɯs |
| 子 | *ʔslɯʔ |
| 虸 | *ʔslɯʔ |
| 耔 | *ʔslɯʔ |
| 秄 | *ʔslɯʔ |
| 杍 | *ʔslɯʔ |
| 籽 | *ʔslɯʔ |
| 字 | *zlɯs |
| 茡 | *zlɯs |
| 芓 | *zlɯs |
| 牸 | *zlɯs |
| 李 | *rɯʔ |
Pictogram (象形) – an image of a baby, with a large head and spread arms. The legs are wrapped in a blanket. Compare with 了, where the arms are wrapped.
The big seal script form is much more elaborate, showing a baby with hair on a head (囟) and arms on the two sides of the body, sitting on a stool (几).
Etymology
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za (“child, offspring, relatives; to come forth (as child at birth); to love; loving”).
Cognate with 字 (OC *zlɯs, “character; letter”), 慈 (OC *zɯ, “loving; kind”), 滋 (OC *ʔsɯ, “to grow, to breed, to propagate, to bring about, to increase”), 孳 (OC *ʔsɯ, *zɯs, “to breed, to propagate”).
Pronunciation 1
Definitions
子
- † child; offspring
- † son
- † descendant; posterity
- † person
- † master; teacher
- † A respectful suffix for teachers, usually attached to their surnames.
- † you
- Alternative form of 籽 (zǐ, “seed”); also its second-round simplified form.
- 葵花子 ― kuíhuāzǐ ― sunflower seed
- † egg
- young; tender; small
- Prefix attached to nouns, denoting "a part of", "belonging to" or "individual". sub-
- (astrology) First earthly branch: rat in the Chinese zodiac, 11th solar month, midnight (11:00 pm to 1:00 am)
- Viscount, fourth of five ranks of Chinese aristocracy under the Zhou dynasty.
- (physics, biology) -on
Synonyms
Compounds
Derived terms from 子
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Pronunciation 2
Synonyms
| Dialectal synonyms of 子 (“general diminutive suffix”) [map] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Variety | Location | Words |
| Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 子 | |
| Mandarin | Beijing | 子 |
| Taiwan | 子 | |
| Cantonese | Guangzhou | 仔 |
| Hong Kong | 仔 | |
| Hakka | Meixian | 仔 |
| Miaoli (N. Sixian) | 仔 | |
| Liudui (S. Sixian) | 仔 | |
| Hsinchu (Hailu) | 仔 | |
| Min Dong | Fuzhou | 囝 |
| Min Nan | Xiamen | 仔 |
| Penang | 囝 | |
Compounds
Derived terms from 子
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Pronunciation 3
Japanese
Kanji
子
Readings
Compounds
Compounds
- 諸子 (shoshi)
- 老子 (Rōshi)
- 柚餅子 (yubeshi)
- 浮子, 泛子 (uki)
- 浮塵子 (unka)
- 御虎子 (omaru)
- 帷子 (katabira)
- 硝子 (garasu, “glass”)
- 芥子, 辛子 (karashi, “mustard”)
- 鱲子 (karasumi)
- 餃子 (gyōza)
- 胡頽子 (gumi)
- 甲子 (Kōshi)
- 庚子 (Kōshi)
- 賽子., 骰子 (saikoro)
- 壬子 (Jinshi)
- 七対子 (chītoitsu)
- 餃子 (chaozu)
- 刷子 (hake)
- 黒子 (hahakuso), 黒子 (hahakuro)
- 丙子 (Heishi)
- 黒子 (hokuro)
- 戊子 (Boshi))
- 子規 (hototogisu)
- 角子 (mizura)
- 郁子 (mube), 郁子 (ube)
- 刷子 (burashi)
- 没法子 (mēfāzu)
- 面子 (mentsu)
Usage notes
子 is also an obsolete variant form of the katakana ネ (ne).
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 子 |
| こ Grade: 1 |
| kun’yomi |
⟨ko1⟩ → */kʷo/ → /ko/
From Old Japanese,[1] attested in the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE), two of the oldest examples of written Japanese.
Cognate with 蚕 (ko, “silkworm”) and possibly 小 (ko, “little”, diminutive prefix).
Noun
子 (counter 人, hiragana こ, rōmaji ko)
- a child
- 2007 October 20, Izawa, Hiroshi; Yamada, Kotaro, “
第 39話 竜 の咆 哮 [Chapter 39: Dragon’s Roar]”, in ファイアーエムブレム 覇者の剣 [Fire Emblem: Sword of Champions], volume 5 (fiction), Jump Remix edition, Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN, page 113:- ここまで戦ってきたのに…まんまと封印されちまって手も足も出ないなんて…何が…ハルトムートの子だ…何が竜の子だ‼
- Koko made tatakatte kita no ni… manmato fūin sarechimatte te mo ashi mo denai nan te… Nani ga… Harutomūto no ko da… Nani ga ryū no ko da‼
- I’ve fought my way to this point… only to end up being sealed, unable to move at all… So what… if I’m Hartmut’s son… So what if I’m a dragon child⁉
- ここまで戦ってきたのに…まんまと封印されちまって手も足も出ないなんて…何が…ハルトムートの子だ…何が竜の子だ‼
- 2007 October 20, Izawa, Hiroshi; Yamada, Kotaro, “
最 終 話 それぞれの道 へ [Final Chapter: Epilog]”, in ファイアーエムブレム 覇者の剣 [Fire Emblem: Sword of Champions], volume 5 (fiction), Jump Remix edition, Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN, page 355:- 後にラグナのセルディアと結ばれ８人の子を儲けた
- Nochi ni Raguna no Serudia to musubare hachinin no ko o mōketa
- He later had 8 children with Celdia of Ragna
- 後にラグナのセルディアと結ばれ８人の子を儲けた
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- (figuratively) a girl, especially a dear or desired one (compare use of English baby, babe)
- c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 7, poem 1266), text here
- 大舟乎荒海尓榜出八船多氣吾見之兒等之目見者知之母 [Man'yōgana]
- 大船を荒海に漕ぎ出や船たけ我が見し子らがまみはしるしも [Modern spelling]
- ōbune o arumi ni kogi de ya fune take waga mishi kora ga mami wa shirushi mo
- Rowing the big boat into the rough seas, putting our backs into it, the looks of those girls I saw are clear [in my mind]
- c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 7, poem 1266), text here
- a smaller or younger version of a bigger object
Derived terms
Derived terms
- お子さん (okosan): child (when addressing or referring to someone else's)
- 子供 (kodomo, “child, children”)
- 子守 (komori, “babysitter, nurse; babysitting”)
- 間の子, 合いの子 (ai no ko, “child of racially different parents; hybrid organism; something with the qualities of two other things, combination”)
- 豕, 猪子, 猪の子 (inoko, “wild pig or piglet”)
- 芋の子 (imo no ko, “a smaller tuber branching from another potato”)
- 男 (otoko, “man”)
- 茸, 蕈, 菌 (kinoko, “mushroom”)
- 筍 (takenoko, “bamboo shoot”)
- 彦 (hiko, “prince; boy”)
- 蛭子 (Hiruko)
- 息子 (musuko, “son”)
- 諸子 (moroko, “gudgeon”)
Prefix
- an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
Derived terms
Derived terms
- 子犬 (koinu, “puppy”)
- 子会社 (kogaisha, “subsidiary”)
Suffix
- suffix used in female given names, such as 智子 (Tomoko), 英子 (Eiko), 秀子 (Hideko), 美奈子 (Minako)
- (rare) suffix used in male given names
- an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
- roe (only when preceded by a fish name, or fish-related prefix)
- 明太子 (mentaiko, “pollock roe”)
- 飛子 (tobiko, “flying fish roe”)
Derived terms
Derived terms
- 穴子 (anago, “conger eel”)
- 団子 (dango, “dango”, a kind of dumpling)
- 糠子 (nukago, “biting midge”)
- 愛子 (manago, “beloved child”)
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 子 |
| す Grade: 1 |
| on’yomi |
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 子 |
| し Grade: 1 |
| on’yomi |
From Middle Chinese 子 (MC t͡sɨX), also used in the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE) as 借音 (shakuon) kana for ⟨si⟩. Compare modern Mandarin 子 (zǐ).
The goon reading of shi is likely the original borrowing:
- /t͡sɨ/ → /sɨ/ → */ɕɨ/ → /ɕi/
The tōon reading su appears later, and only shows up in certain set terms borrowed from Chinese, where it seems to serve as a kind of nominalizing suffix:
- /t͡sɨ/ → /sɨ/ → */sʉ/ → /su/
Pronunciation
Affix
子 (hiragana し, rōmaji shi, alternative reading す, rōmaji su)
- a child
- Short for 子爵 (shishaku): the fourth rank of nobility in Meiji-postwar Japan, equivalent to a viscount
- an honorific for a learned man, such as teacher or master
- a philosophy branch of Chinese literature, either derived from or outside of the Hundred Schools of Thought
- an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
- an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)
Usage notes
- This affix is never used in isolation. It is only used in on'yomi compounds.
- In some kanji compounds, 子 is part of the word but does not carry much meaning in Japanese, as in 椅子 (isu, “chair”). Possibly because of this erosion of meaning, spelling out 子 in some compounds has become optional, as in 椰子 vs. 椰 (yashi, “a palm tree”), or 柚子 vs. 柚 (yuzu, “an aromatic citron”).
- In some compounds, the shi or su reading becomes voiced as ji or zu due to rendaku.
Derived terms
Derived terms
- 子院 (shiin, “a branch temple”)
- 子音 (shīn, “a consonant”)
- 子器 (shiki, “ascocarp”)
- 子宮 (shikyū, “the uterus, the womb”)
- 子午 (shigo, “running north and south”)
- 子細 (shisai, “a detail, a particular; a circumstance”)
- 子史 (shishi)
- 子実層 (shijitsusō, “the hymenium of certain fungi”)
- 子実体 (shijitsutai, “the sporocarp or fruiting body of certain fungi”)
- 子爵 (shishaku, “viscount”)
- 子女 (shijo, “children; a girl, a daughter”)
- 子銭 (shisen, “interest earned on a loan”)
- 子息 (shisoku, “boy, son”)
- 子孫 (shison, “descendant”)
- 子弟 (shitei, “children, young people”)
- 子道 (shidō, “one's duty to one's children”)
- 子嚢 (shinō, “ascus or pericarp of certain fungi”)
- 子婦 (shifu, “daughter-in-law”)
- 子母銭 (shibosen, “money, principal and interest”)
- 子母沢 (Shimowaza, a surname)
- 子法 (shihō, “law based on a law in another country”)
- 子房 (shibō, “ovary”)
- 子本 (shihon, “principal and interest”)
- 子夜 (shiya, “midnight”)
- 子葉 (shiyō, “cotyledon or seed leaf, the first leaf of a sprouting plant”)
- 子来 (shirai, “love of the populace for a just ruler”)
- 子癇 (shikan, “eclampsia”)
- 音子 (onshi, “phonon”)
- 光子 (kōshi, “photon”)
- 晶子 (shōshi, “crystallite”)
- 松子 (shōshi, “pinecone”)
- 硝子 (shōshi, “glass”)
- 喞子 (shokushi, “piston”)
- 椅子, 倚子 (isu, “chair”)
- 烏帽子 (eboshi, “formal black peaked cap worn by nobility”)
- 芥子 (kaishi), 芥子 (gaishi)
- 菓子 (kashi, “candy”)
- 芥子 (keshi)
- 原子 (genshi)
- 獅子 (shishi)
- 精子 (seishi, “spermatozoon”)
- 扇子 (sensu, “folding fan”)
- 卓子 (takushi, “table”)
- 中性子 (chūseishi, “neutron”)
- 電子 (denshi, “electron”)
- 螺子, 捻子, 捩子 (neji, “screw”)
- 胞子 (hōshi, “spore”)
- 烽子 (hōshi, “courier or messenger in ancient Japan”)
- 亡子 (bōshi, “dead child”)
- 帽子 (bōshi, “hat, a cap”)
- 眸子 (bōshi, “pupil of the eye”)
- 鋩子 (bōshi, “tip of a sword or knife”)
- 拍子 (hyōshi, “rhythm”)
- 茄子 (nasu, “eggplant”)
- 様子 (yōsu, “appearances; situation, circumstances”)
- 卵子 (ranshi, “ovum”)
- 利子 (rishi, “interest”)
- 量子 (ryōshi, “quantum”)
Proper noun
- (Chinese astrology) Rat, the first of the twelve Earthly Branches
Proper noun
- (Chinese astrology) Rat, the first of the twelve Earthly Branches:
- a place name
Derived terms
Syllable
子 • (ne)
- (dated, until the 19th century) variant katakana syllable ネ (ne).
- Udagawa Yōan, 遠西医方名物考, vol. 4, 1822
剥篤 亞斯 蘭 「シ子レス、カラーヘルラチ」羅
[…] 是ヲ燒ク法、曠野ニ一大坑ヲ穿チ其底ト内圍ニ遍 ク瓦磗ヲ敷 連子、樹ノ幹枝𪜈ニ截 テ其内ニ積ミ焚 シ了 テ煙消シ通紅トナルトキ尋常 ノ灰汁 ヲ取テ少シ宛 頻〻ニ撒 ストキハ其灰ノ鹽氣凝結𬼀堅キ塊片トナル。
- 第1回国会参法一覧
- 小杉イ子議員
- Udagawa Yōan, 遠西医方名物考, vol. 4, 1822
Noun
References
Korean
Vietnamese
Han character
子: Hán Việt readings: tý (
子: Nôm readings: tý[1][2], tử[2][4], tí[1], tít[2], tở[3]
- Hán tự form of tý (“first earthly branch”).
- Hán tự form of tử (“Clipping of tử số (“numerator”).”).
- Nôm form of tí (“a little bit”).
References
- Nguyễn (2014).
- Nguyễn et al. (2009).
- Trần (2004).
- Hồ (1976).
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