它

See also: 牠
它 U+5B83, 它
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5B83
← 宂
[U+5B82] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 宄 →
[U+5B84]

Translingual
Stroke order

Han character

它 (radical 40, 宀+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 十心 (JP), four-corner 30711, composition ⿱宀匕)

Derived characters

References
  • KangXi: page 281, character 14
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7057
  • Dae Jaweon: page 551, character 14
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 910, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+5B83

Chinese

Glyph origin
Historical forms of the character 它
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
Characters in the same phonetic series (它) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
佗 *l̥ʰaːl, *l'aːl
拕 *l̥ʰaːl, *l'aːlʔ
它 *l̥ʰaːl
蛇 *l̥ʰaːl, *ɦljaːl, *lal
袉 *l̥ʰaːlʔ, *l'aːl, *l'aːlʔ
鴕 *l'aːl
駝 *l'aːl
紽 *l'aːl
鮀 *l'aːl
陀 *l'aːl
沱 *l'aːl, *l'aːlʔ
跎 *l'aːl
詑 *l'aːl, *l'aːlʔ, *hlel, *lal, *l̥ʰoːl
酡 *l'aːl
迱 *l'aːl
舵 *l'aːlʔ
柁 *l'aːlʔ
鉈 *ɦljaːl, *hljal

Pictogram (象形) : a snake. This is now written as the derivative 蛇 (OC *l̥ʰaːl, *ɦljaːl, *lal).

The character was later borrowed for the then-homophonous third-person pronoun (“he/she/it”). Today 他 (tā) is used for male or gender-unspecified “he” and 她 (tā) for “she”.

Pronunciation 1
trad. 它/牠
simp. 它
牠 - chiefly used to refer to animals
Note:
  • thaⁿ/tha - vernacular;
  • tho/tô - literary.
Rime
Character 它
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 透 (6)
Final (韻) 歌 (94)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 託何切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /tʰɑ/
Pan
Wuyun		 /tʰɑ/
Shao
Rongfen		 /tʰɑ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /tʰa/
Li
Rong		 /tʰɑ/
Wang
Li		 /tʰɑ/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /tʰɑ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 tuō
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 它
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 tā
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ tha ›
Old
Chinese		 /*l̥ˁaj/
English another

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 它
Reading # 1/1
No. 12210
Phonetic
component		 它
Rime
group		 歌
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 佗
Old
Chinese		 /*l̥ʰaːl/

Definitions

它

  1. third-person singular pronoun for inanimate objects; it
    這是一份非常重要的文件，千萬不要把它丟掉。 [MSC, trad.]
    这是一份非常重要的文件，千万不要把它丢掉。 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè shì yī fèn fēicháng zhòngyào de wénjiàn, qiānwàn bùyào bǎ tā diūdiào. [Pinyin]
    This is a very important document; you must not lose it.
  2. (chiefly simplified Chinese) third-person singular pronoun for animals; it
  3. A dummy pronoun.
    alt. forms: 他
  4. crooked; evil
  5. A surname​.

Usage notes
  • In traditional Chinese, there is generally a distinction between 它 and 牠; the former refers exclusively to inanimate objects, while the latter refers exclusively to animals.
  • In simplified Chinese, only 它 is used for both inanimate objects and animals.

See also
Standard Chinese personal pronouns
Person Singular Plural
1st — 我 (wǒ) 我們／我们 (wǒmen)
inclusive 咱們／咱们 (zánmen)
2nd male/indefinite 你 (nǐ) 你們／你们 (nǐmen)
female 妳／你 (nǐ) 妳們／你们 (nǐmen)
deity 祢 (nǐ) 祢們／祢们 (nǐmen)
polite 您 (nín) 你們／你们 (nǐmen)
您們／您们 (nínmen)
3rd male/indefinite 他 (tā) 他們／他们 (tāmen)
female 她 (tā) 她們／她们 (tāmen)
deity 祂 (tā) 祂們／祂们 (tāmen)
animal 牠／它 (tā) 牠們／它们 (tāmen)
inanimate 它 (tā) 它們／它们 (tāmen)
  • (Classical Chinese, gender and number neutral - he, she, it, they) 其 (qí)
  • (Min Nan, Wu, gender neutral - he, she, it) 伊
  • (Cantonese, Hakka, Gan, gender neutral - he, she, it) 佢, 渠

Compounds
  • 之死靡它
  • 其它
  • 奇請它比／奇请它比
  • 奢摩它
  • 委它
  • 它人
  • 它們／它们 (tāmen)
  • 它名
  • 它山之石，可以為錯／它山之石，可以为错
  • 它岐
  • 它年
  • 它心
  • 它所
  • 它故
  • 它日
  • 它時／它时
  • 它法
  • 它界
  • 它腸／它肠
  • 它門／它门
  • 拉它
  • 橐它
  • 無它／无它
  • 磨它子
  • 自它
  • 靡它
  • 駘它／骀它

Pronunciation 2
simp. and trad.
 它

Definitions

它

  1. Used in 它它藉藉.
  2. Alternative form of 駝／驼 (tuó).

Pronunciation 3
simp. and trad.
 它

Definitions

它

  1. Only used in 它它.

Pronunciation 4
For pronunciation and definitions of 它 – see 蛇 (“snake; serpent; snake-like; snaky; etc.”).
(This character, 它, is a variant form of 蛇.)

Japanese

Kanji
它

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

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

Readings
  • Go-on: た (ta)
  • Kan-on: た (ta)
  • Kun: へび (hebi, 它)

Vietnamese

Han character

它 (dà, đà, tha)

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