巳
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Translingual
| Stroke order | |||
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Han character
巳 (Kangxi radical 49, 己+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 口山 (RU), four-corner 77717, composition ⿺乚コ)
References
- Kangxi Dictionary: page 326, character 12
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8744
- Dae Jaweon: page 631, character 1
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 984, character 2
- Unihan data for U+5DF3
Chinese
Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 巳 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Shang | Western Zhou | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) |
| Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
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Two different theories:
- Pictogram (象形) of a snake (therefore, it should be similar to 巴). This theory is found in the Shuowen Jiezi;
- Pictogram (象形) of a fetus (it can be seen in 包, 胞. In 包, the radical should represent the placenta. 胞 today means "cell").
The character is similar to 已, which cannot be found in the Shuowen Jiezi.
Etymology 1
巳 (OC s-ləʔ) displaced 子 (OC tsəʔ), the original sixth earthly branch which denoted the moon's "coming forth" stage (i.e. early waning-gibbous phase) "due to phonological closeness (combined with the semantic opacity of the Branch terms at later eras)" (Smith, 2011).
Association with the snake was possibly arbitrary, analogous to how 辰, the fifth earthly branch, was arbitrarily associated with the dragon (Ferlus, 2013).
Pronunciation
Coordinate terms
References
- (Min Nan) “Entry #210”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.
Etymology 2
Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
Japanese
Readings
Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 巳 |
| し Jinmeiyō |
| on’yomi |
From Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value).
Korean
Hanja
巳 • (sa) (hangeul 사, revised sa, McCune–Reischauer sa, Yale sa)
- the hours from 9 to 11
- 6th terrestrial branch




