字

字 (Kangxi radical 39, 子+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十弓木 (JND), four-corner 3040₇, composition ⿱宀子)

• 𪜸, 𭇬, 𬇤, 𭸇, 𣑑, 牸, 𡨸, 𫃣, 𦍺, 𮋩, 𫇊, 𡦂, 𧧕, 𫒛, 𪰿, 𮪃
• 𫿰, 𫡉, 𭓆, 𫳘, 𪧚, 𭓖, 𭓙, 𡶻, 茡, 𣉬, 𡦙, 𥊐

• KangXi: page 277, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6942
• Dae Jaweon: page 545, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1010, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5B57

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *zlɯs) : semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 子 (OC *ʔslɯʔ, “child”).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za (“child; to give birth; to take care; to be kind”). Related to:

• 子 (OC *ʔslɯʔ, “child, son”) (also its phonetic component)
• 慈 (OC *zɯ, “to be kind, loving”)
• 滋 (OC *ʔsɯ, “to nourish, to grow”)
• 詞 (OC *ljɯ, “word, term”)
• 辭 (OC *ljɯ, “word, from testimony”)

Original sense (1): “to become pregnant, to give birth to, to nurture, to love” has essentially become obsolete. The sense (2) “letter, character” is either from a different root or a derivation from the sense “to produce, to generate”.

Cognate with Tibetan ཚ་བོ (tsha bo, “nephew”), Tibetan ཚ་རུས (tsha rus, “descendant”), Tibetan བཙའ (btsa', “to give birth to; to guard”), Tibetan མཛའ (mdza', “kind, peaceful, friendly”) (Quan, 1996), Burmese စာ (ca, “writing, letter”).

字

1. letter; symbol; character, especially a Chinese character (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 c)

   這個字怎麼唸？／这个字怎么念？  ―  Zhège zì zěnme niàn?  ―  How do you read this character?

   字母  ―  zìmǔ  ―  letter

   字串  ―  zìchuàn  ―  character string

2. word; term; wording; diction

   這字拼錯了。／这字拼错了。  ―  Zhè zì pīn cuò le.  ―  This word is wrongly spelt; you've left out a letter.

3. (computing) word
4. handwriting; writing

   他的字很差。  ―  Tā de zì hěn chà.  ―  His handwriting is very bad.

5. (historical) courtesy name; Chinese-style name (a name traditionally given to Chinese males at the age of 20 and females at the age of 15)
6. (historical) to style; to give someone a courtesy name
7. (calligraphy) style of handwriting; printing type
8. (calligraphy) (a calligrapher's) calligraphy work
9. written letter; message; correspondence
10. receipt; contract; slip
11. pronunciation of a character; pronunciation
12. (colloquial) side of a coin with written characters; tails

    Antonym: 鏝／镘 (màn)

13. (Cantonese, Min, Malaysia, Singapore) five minutes (derived from the locations of 1 to 12 on a clock face) (Classifier: 個／个 m c)

    三個字／三个字 [Cantonese]  ―  saam¹ go³ zi⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  fifteen minutes [i.e. when the minute hand points to 3]

    七點兩字／七点两字 [Hokkien]  ―  chhit tiám nn̄g jī [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  ten past seven

    一個字／一个字 [Teochew]  ―  zêg⁸ gai⁵ ri⁷ [Peng'im]  ―  five minutes [i.e. when the minute hand points to 1]

    而家係一點十一個字。 [Guangzhou Cantonese, trad.]
    而家系一点十一个字。 [Guangzhou Cantonese, simp.]

    ji⁴ gaa¹ hai⁶ jat¹ dim² sap⁶ jat¹ go³ zi⁶. [Jyutping]

    It's five to two now. (Literally: It's one o'clock [and] eleven five-minutes.)

    爭三個字到六點 [Guangzhou Cantonese, trad.]
    争三个字到六点 [Guangzhou Cantonese, simp.]

    zaang¹ saam¹ go³ zi⁶ dou³ luk⁶ dim² [Jyutping]

    a quarter to six (Literally: Missing three five-minutes to six o'clock)

14. ^† to give birth to; to deliver a baby; to bring into the world
15. ^† to be pregnant; to be carrying a baby
16. ^† (historical, of a girl) to be betrothed; to be allowed to marry

    待字閨中／待字闺中  ―  dàizìguīzhōng  ―  to stay in the boudoir waiting to be betrothed

17. ^† to bring up; to raise; to rear (a child)

    • 其僚無子，使字敬叔。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      其僚无子，使字敬叔。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

      Qí liáo wú zǐ, shǐ zì Jìngshū. [Pinyin]

      Her companion had no child, but she was employed to bring up Jingshu.

18. (obsolete or Guzhang Waxiang) to love; to cherish; to care very much for

    • 子弗祗服厥父事，大傷厥考心；于父不能字厥子，乃疾厥子。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      子弗祗服厥父事，大伤厥考心；于父不能字厥子，乃疾厥子。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE

      Zǐ fú zhī fú jué fù shì, dà shāng jué kǎo xīn; yú fù bùnéng zì jué zǐ, nǎi jí jué zǐ. [Pinyin]

      The son who does not reverently discharge his duty to his father, but greatly wounds his father's heart, and the father who can (no longer) love his son, but hates him.

    • 楚雖大，非吾族也，其肯字我乎？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      楚虽大，非吾族也，其肯字我乎？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

      Chǔ suī dà, fēi wú zú yě, qí kěn zì wǒ hū? [Pinyin]

      Although Chu is great, they are not akin to us; how will they be willing to love us?

19. (Luxi Waxiang) to envy; to be jealous of; to admire
20. ^† to educate; to teach; to instruct
21. ^† to govern; to administer
22. a surname

Others:

• → Proto-Tai: *ɟɤ:ᴮ (“name”)
  • Lao: ຊື່ (sư̄, “name”)
  • Thai: ชื่อ (chʉ̂ʉ, “name”)
  • Zhuang: coh (“name”)
• → Vietnamese: chữ (“script; letter; writing; word”), chửa (“to be pregnant”)

• “字”, 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–

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: じ (ji, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kun: あざ (aza, 字, Jōyō); あざな (azana, 字); うむ (umu); ます (masu)

Borrowed from Middle Chinese 字 with the southern pronunciation (kango, go-on).

• (Tokyo) じ​ [jíꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑi]

字(じ) • (ji) 

1. letter, character

   この字(じ)は何(なん)と読(よ)みますか？

   Kono ji wa nan to yomimasu ka?

   How do you pronounce this character?

2. handwriting, penmanship

   彼(かの)女(じょ)は字(じ)が上手(うま)い（汚(きたな)い）。

   Kanojo wa ji ga umai (kitanai).

   She has good (bad) handwriting.

字(じ) • (-ji) 

1. letters, characters

   ４０(よんじゅう)字(じ)以(い)内(ない)で書(か)いてください。

   Yonjū-ji inai de kaite kudasai.

   Please write it down in 40 characters or fewer.

Shortened form of あざな (azana, “a section of a village”) of ancient Japanese origin (wago).

• (Tokyo) あ​ざ [áꜜzà] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [a̠za̠]

字(あざ) • (aza) 

1. a section of a village

• 大(おお)字(あざ) (ōaza)
• 小(こ)字(あざ) (koaza)

Of ancient Japanese origin (wago).

• (Tokyo) あざな [àzáná] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [a̠za̠na̠]

字(あざな) • (azana) 

1. courtesy name

   たく郡(ぐん)（河北(かほく)省(しょう)）の人(ひと)。字(あざな)は玄徳(げんとく)。

   Taku-gun (Kahoku-shō) no hito. Azana wa Gentoku.

   Of Zhuo Commandery. Courtesy name Xuande.

2. nickname
3. a section of a village

From Middle Chinese 字 (MC d͡zɨH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕa̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [자]

Wikisource 字 (eumhun 글자 자 (geulja ja))

1. Hanja form^? of 자 (“letter; character”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

字: Hán Nôm readings: tự, chữ

1. character, letter
2. word

• 字儒 (chữ Nho)
• 字喃 (chữ Nôm)

• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển, Hà Nội, 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999