是

是 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 日一卜人 (AMYO), four-corner 6080₁, composition ⿱日𤴓 or ⿱旦龰)

1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №32

• 偍, 㔭, 㖷, 堤, 媞, 崼, 徥, 惿, 提, 湜, 隄, 遈, 㮛, 煶, 瑅, 禔, 䐎, 睼, 碮, 䅠, 褆, 䊓, 緹(缇), 蝭, 䚣, 諟(𬤊), 䜻, 趧, 踶, 醍, 鍉, 鞮, 䪘, 騠(𫘨), 鯷(鳀)
• 㓳, 匙, 尟, 㼵, 韙(韪), 題(题), 鶗, 寔, 䈕, 翨

• KangXi: page 493, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13859
• Dae Jaweon: page 858, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1497, character 5
• Unihan data for U+662F

Historical forms of the character 是
Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Shizhoupian script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Originally a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *djeʔ) : semantic 早 + phonetic 止 (OC *kjɯʔ), but the original meaning is unclear. It has been suggested that 早 looks like a spoon, so 是 may have been the original character for 匙 (OC *dje, “spoon”). As early as in late bronze inscriptions, the lower part of 早 split off and combined with 止 to give 昰, which carried over to the small seal script, and Shuowen considers this a compound of 日 (“sun”) + 正 (“upright; right”) (i.e. as the upright sun).

“This [an independent pronoun] > be right, correct, to be, so”. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-daj ~ m-di (“that; this”). In Chinese, cognate with 寔 (OC *djɯɡ, “this”), 實 (OC *ɦliɡ, “this”), 之 (OC *tjɯ, “this; he; she; it”), 諟 (OC *djeʔ, “to examine, to consider”). In Tibeto-Burman, cognate with Tibetan དེ (de, “that”), Jingpho dai, ndai (“this”).

是

1. (literary) this; this thing

   是日  ―  shìrì  ―  this day

   • 是可忍，孰不可忍？ [Classical Chinese]  ―  Shì kě rěn, shú bù kě rěn? [Pinyin]  ―  If this can be tolerated, what cannot?

   • 日出于暘谷，浴于咸池，拂于扶桑，是謂晨明。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     日出于旸谷，浴于咸池，拂于扶桑，是谓晨明。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Huainanzi, 2^nd century BCE

     Rì chū yú Yánggǔ, yù yú Xiánchí, fú yú Fúsāng, shì wèi chénmíng. [Pinyin]

     The sun rises from Yanggu, bathes in Xianchi, and draws near to the Fusang: this is called Dawn.

2. (copulative) to be
   1. indicating that the subject and object are the same.

      泰晤士河是英國第二長的河流。 [MSC, trad.]
      泰晤士河是英国第二长的河流。 [MSC, simp.]

      Tàiwùshìhé shì Yīngguó dì'èr cháng de héliú. [Pinyin]

      The River Thames is the second longest river in the UK.

   2. indicating that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.

      我是老師。／我是老师。  ―  Wǒ shì lǎoshī.  ―  I am a teacher.

      我是中國人。／我是中国人。  ―  Wǒ shì zhōngguórén.  ―  I am Chinese.

   3. indicating a place being occupied by the object, where the place forms the subject.

      房子前面是禾場。／房子前面是禾场。  ―  Fángzǐ qiánmiàn shì hécháng.  ―  The threshing floor is in front of the house.

      到處都是／到处都是  ―  dàochù dōu shì  ―  to be everywhere

3. a particle emphasizing the word following it.

   我是昨天買的票。／我是昨天买的票。  ―  Wǒ shì zuótiān mǎi de piào.  ―  It was yesterday when I bought the ticket.

   我買票是在昨天。／我买票是在昨天。  ―  Wǒ mǎi piào shì zài zuótiān.  ―  It was yesterday when I bought the ticket.

4. a particle showing agreement. In this meaning, 是 is stressed. truly; indeed.

   天氣是冷。／天气是冷。  ―  Tiānqì shì lěng.  ―  It is indeed cold.

   這件裙子是很漂亮，但是太貴了。 [MSC, trad.]
   这件裙子是很漂亮，但是太贵了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè jiàn qúnzi shì hěn piàoliàng, dànshì tài guì le. [Pinyin]

   Although this dress is truly beautiful, it's too expensive.

5. (in affirmative answers) yes; right

   你是張三嗎？是。／你是张三吗？是。  ―  Nǐ shì Zhāng Sān ma? Shì.  ―  Are you Zhang San? Yes.

   是，長官。／是，长官。  ―  Shì, zhǎngguān.  ―  Yes, sir.

   是，明白了。  ―  Shì, míngbái le.  ―  Yes, got it.

6. true; correct

   不是  ―  búshì  ―  fault; mistake; wrongdoing

   你說得是／你说得是  ―  nǐ shuō de shì  ―  What you said is right

   各行其是  ―  gè xíng qí shì  ―  to have each going his own way, i.e., doing what he considers right

   共商國是／共商国是  ―  gòng shāng guóshì  ―  to discuss national affairs (This is a fossil word from Ancient Chinese where 是 (OC *djeʔ) originally means "what is right (for the country)", i.e., "laws and policies")

   • 彼人是哉！子曰何其？ [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Bǐrén shì zāi! Zǐ yuē hé qí? [Pinyin]

     Those men are / That man is right! What do you mean by your words?

7. a surname

When translated as "to be", 是 is used only to link two nouns or nominal expressions.

我是老師／我是老师  ―  wǒ shì lǎoshī  ―  I am a teacher

泰晤士河是英國第二長的河流。 [MSC, trad.]
泰晤士河是英国第二长的河流。 [MSC, simp.]

Tàiwùshìhé shì Yīngguó dì'èr cháng de héliú. [Pinyin]

The River Thames is the second longest river in the UK.

是 is not used to link a noun and an adjective. The following sentence would be incorrect:

*這是好／*这是好  ―  * zhè shì hǎo  ―  *

The correct sentence is

這很好／这很好  ―  zhè hěn hǎo  ―  This is (very) good

Here, 很 (hěn) is used as a filler to link a noun and an adjective and is not interpreted as "very".

A way to use 是 with an adjective is to use 的 (de) after the adjective to turn it into a noun.

那隻貓是黑的／那只猫是黑的  ―  nà zhī māo shì hēi de  ―  This cat is black (This cat is a black one)

• Wutunhua: hai

• “是”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #5013”, 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., 2011.

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. this
2. right, correct, just
3. indicates agreement or affirmation

• Go-on: ぜ (ze, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kun: これ (kore, 是); この (kono, 是); ここ (koko, 是)
• Nanori: これ (kore); すなお (sunao); ただし (tadashi); つな (tsuna); ゆき (yuki); よし (yoshi)

• IPA^(key): [d͡ze̞]

是(ぜ) • (ze) 

1. right, justice

   是(ぜ)と非(ひ)を区別(くべつ)する

   ze to hi o kubetsu suru

   to tell apart right and wrong

是 (eumhun 이 시 (i si))

1. Hanja form^? of 시 (“this, to be”).

是 (eumhun 바를 시 (bareul si))

1. Hanja form^? of 시 (“right”).

A semantically adopted phonogram (hun'gaja). 是 means "this" in Chinese, and the native Korean word for "this" is 이 (i).

是 (*-i)

1. A syllabic phonogram denoting final vowel *-i

   Synonym: 利

A phonetically adopted phonogram (eum'gaja), from the Middle Chinese reading 是 (MC d͡ʑiᴇ^X).

是 (*-si)

1. A syllabic phonogram denoting final syllable *-si

   Synonym: 示

是 (*-i)

1. Nominative case marker

   Synonyms: 亦, 弋只

• Middle Korean: 이 (-i, nominative case marker)
  • Korean: 이 (-i, nominative case marker)

是 (*i-)

1. to be

• Middle Korean: 이다〮 (-ì-tá)
  • Korean: 이다 (-ida)

是: Hán Nôm readings: thị

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