夫
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Translingual
| Stroke order | |||
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Han character
夫 (Kangxi radical 37, 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 手人 (QO), four-corner 50030, composition ⿻二人 or ⿻一大)
References
- KangXi: page 248, character 11
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5835
- Dae Jaweon: page 507, character 1
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 521, character 1
- Unihan data for U+592B
Chinese
| simp. and trad. |
夫 | |
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Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 夫 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 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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Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 大 (“man”) + 一 (“hairpin”) – a man with a hairpin in his hair.
In ancient times, when men reached the age of 20, they bound their hair with a hairpin during the Guan Li ceremony. The hairpin is the sign of “a grownup man”.
Etymology 1
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pʷa (“male, father, third-person pronoun”). Cognate with Tibetan ཕ། (pha, “father”), Burmese ဘ (bha., “father”). Possibly related to 父 (OC *paʔ, *baʔ, “father”).
Pronunciation
Definitions
夫
- male adult; man
- 維此奄息，百夫之特。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11th – 7th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
- Wéi cǐ Yǎnxī, bǎifū zhī tè. [Pinyin]
- And this Yansi,
Was a man above a hundred.
维此奄息，百夫之特。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]- 劍閣崢嶸而崔嵬，一夫當關，萬夫莫開。 [MSC, trad.]
- From: c. early 8th century, Li Bai (李白), 蜀道難. Translated into the English as The Steep Road to Shuh by Shigeyoshi Obata (小畑薫良), 1922.
- Jiàngé zhēngróng ér cuīwéi, yī fū dāng guān, wàn fū mò kāi. [Pinyin]
- The gate of the Sword Parapet stands firm on its frightful height.
One man defending it, a thousand men could not break it open.
剑阁峥嵘而崔嵬，一夫当关，万夫莫开。 [MSC, simp.]
- husband
- manual worker
- conscripted laborer
Synonyms
Compounds
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Descendants
- → Proto-Southwestern Tai: *pʰuəᴬ
- Thai: ผัว (pǔua, “husband”)
Etymology 2
“That”. Schuessler (2007) connects this with Proto-Loloish *m-ba (“on the other side”), Tibetan ཕ (pha, “beyond, farther on, onward”). Maybe related to 彼 (OC *pralʔ, “that”).
In the sense "is it not?", probably a contraction of 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ') and 乎 (OC *ɢaː) (Pulleyblank, 1995, p. 145).
Pronunciation
Definitions
夫
Synonyms
Etymology 3
| For pronunciation and definitions of 夫 – see 伕. (This character, 夫, is the second-round simplified form of 伕.) |
Notes:
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Etymology 4
Short for 夫佬 (fu1 lou2).
Pronunciation
References
- “夫”, 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–
Japanese
Readings
Compounds
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 夫 |
| おっと Grade: 4 |
| kun’yomi |
Shift from older unattested 男人 (wofito), synchronically analyzable as a compound of 男 (wo → o, “male, man”) + 人 (fito → hito, “person”).[1][2][3]
Ultimately from Proto-Japonic *wopitə, with many Ryukyuan cognates.
First attested in roughly 1220.[1]
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 夫 |
| つま Grade: 4 |
| kun’yomi |
| Alternative spelling |
|---|
| 妻 |
From Old Japanese. First attested in the Kojiki of 712.[6]
Cognate with 端 (tsuma, “edge, side of something”), from the sense of "person by one's side".[6][2]
Generally spelled 夫 in reference to a husband and 妻 in reference to a wife.
Noun
夫 • (tsuma)
Usage notes
In modern usage, the term tsuma is usually reserved for the sense wife, and is therefore spelled 妻 in kanji, while husband is usually expressed using the term 夫 (otto).[5]
References
- “夫・良人・所天”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”) (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, →ISBN
- “夫”, in デジタル大辞泉 (Dejitaru Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
- 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- “妻・夫”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”) (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, →ISBN
Korean
Etymology
From Middle Chinese 夫 (MC pɨo). Recorded as Middle Korean 부 (pwu) (Yale: pwu) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.
Compounds
- 부여 (夫餘, ^buyeo)
- 공부 (工夫, gongbu)
- 광부 (鑛夫, gwangbu)
- 농부 (農夫, nongbu)
- 대부 (大夫, daebu)
- 부부 (夫婦, bubu)
- 부인 (夫人, bu'in)
- 어부 (漁夫, eobu)
- 인부 (人夫, inbu)
- 장부 (丈夫, jangbu)
- 부군 (夫君, bugun)
- 형부 (兄夫, hyeongbu)
- 이모부 (姨母夫, imobu)
- 고모부 (姑母夫, gomobu)
- 유부녀 (有夫女, yubunyeo)
- 우체부 (郵遞夫, uchebu)
- 영부인 (令夫人, yeongbu'in)
- 귀부인 (貴夫人, gwibu'in)