東西

See also: 东西

Chinese
east west
trad. (東西) 東 西
simp. (东西) 东 西

Etymology

Unknown. Many theories exist.

Pronunciation 1
Rime
Character 東 西
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial (聲) 端 (5) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 東 (1) 齊 (39)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) I IV
Fanqie 德紅切 先稽切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /tuŋ/ /sei/
Pan
Wuyun		 /tuŋ/ /sei/
Shao
Rongfen		 /tuŋ/ /sɛi/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /təwŋ/ /sɛj/
Li
Rong		 /tuŋ/ /sei/
Wang
Li		 /tuŋ/ /siei/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /tuŋ/ /siei/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 dōng xī
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 東 西 西
Reading # 1/1 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 dōng xī xī
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ tuwng › ‹ sej › ‹ sej ›
Old
Chinese		 /*tˁoŋ/ (< *tˁoŋʔ ?) /*s-nˁər/ /*s-nˁər/
English east west west

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 東 西
Reading # 1/1 1/1
No. 2435 13236
Phonetic
component		 東 西
Rime
group		 東 微
Rime
subdivision		 0 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 東 西
Old
Chinese		 /*toːŋ/ /*sɯːl/
Notes 種（種籽）初文，甲金文象種皮甲坼萌生根芽，
參敕字陳字注

Noun

東西

  1. east and west
  2. nearby; vicinity
  3. everywhere
  4. (literary) seventy to eighty years old

Adverb

東西

  1. from east to west

Derived terms

See also

Pronunciation 2

Noun

東西

  1. (chiefly Mandarin, Gan, Hakka, Jin, Xiang) thing; stuff; something (Classifier: 個／个; 件; 樣／样)
    我有東西要給你。 / 我有东西要给你。  ―  Wǒ yǒu dōngxi yào gěi nǐ.  ―  I have something for you.
    把我的東西還給我。 [MSC, trad.]
    把我的东西还给我。 [MSC, simp.]
    Bǎ wǒ de dōngxi huángěi wǒ. [Pinyin]
    Give my stuff back.
    我還有很多東西要學。 [MSC, trad.]
    我还有很多东西要学。 [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ hái yǒu hěn duō dōngxi yào xué. [Pinyin]
    I still have a lot to learn.
  2. Referring to a person or animal with emotion.
Usage notes
  • In Mandarin, whilst 東西／东西 can mean thing in either a physical or abstract sense, 事情 (shìqing) only means thing in an abstract sense.
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 東西 (“thing, object”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 物
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 東西
Mandarin Beijing 東西
Jinan 東西
Xi'an 東西
Wuhan 東西, 家伙
Chengdu 東西
Yangzhou 東子, 東西
Hefei 東西
Cantonese Guangzhou 嘢
Hong Kong 嘢
Shunde 嘢
Zhongshan (Shiqi) 嘢
Doumen (Shangheng Tanka) 嘢
Taishan 嘢
Dongguan 嘢
Shaoguan 嘢
Yunfu 嘢
Yangjiang 嘢
Xinyi 嘢
Lianjiang 嘢
Nanning 嘢
Gan Nanchang 東西
Hakka Meixian 東西
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 東西
Liudui (S. Sixian) 東西
Hsinchu (Hailu) 東西
Dongshi (Dabu) 東西
Hsinchu (Raoping) 東西
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 物件
Jin Taiyuan 東西
Min Bei Jian'ou 物事
Min Dong Fuzhou 乇
Min Nan Xiamen 物件, 物
Quanzhou 物件
Zhangzhou 物件
Taipei 物件
Kaohsiung 物仔, 物件
Tainan 物仔, 物件
Taichung 物件
Hsinchu 物件
Lukang 物, 物件
Sanxia 物件
Yilan 物仔, 物件
Kinmen 物, 物件
Magong 物, 物件
Penang 物件
Philippines (Manila) 物件
Chaozhou 物件, 物
Wu Shanghai 物事
Suzhou 物事
Wenzhou 物事, 物色, 名堂
Xiang Changsha 東西, 家伙
Shuangfeng 東西, 家伙
Derived terms
  • 買東西／买东西 (mǎi dōngxi)
Descendants

Japanese
Kanji in this term
東 西
とう
Grade: 2		 さい > ざい
Grade: 2
on’yomi

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 東西 (MC tuŋ sei). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) The sai of 西 changes to zai due to rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

Noun

東西 (hiragana とうざい, rōmaji tōzai)

  1. east and west
  2. (by extension) all over, here and there
  3. Orient and Occident
  4. (slang) a name of a good or money, originally a Chinese slang term

Derived terms

Interjection

東西 (hiragana とうざい, rōmaji tōzai)

  1. Synonym of 東西東西 (“your attention please; hear ye”)

References
  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
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