世

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

世 (Kangxi radical 1, 一+4, 5 strokes, cangjie input 心廿 (PT), four-corner 4471₇, composition ⿻廿𠃊)

Derived characters

• 伳, 呭, 𪣅, 𡛶, 怈, 抴, 泄, 迣, 枻, 𬆑, 玴, 䄁, 朑, 𤤙, 𥅋, 𥹑, 紲(绁), 袣, 𦐕, 𮎉, 𮓽, 𬡽, 詍, 𧺿, 跇, 𣫸, 鉪, 靾, 齛
• 𢺿, 㰥, 𦐞, 屉, 𢇸, 𦭓, 疶, 𬙚, 𫢫, 笹, 髰, 枼, 𭁫, 𬔛, 𠁀, 𭁯, 𧉺, 貰(贳), 𩊈, 屜

Descendants

• せ (Hiragana character derived from man'yōgana)
• セ (Katakana character derived from man'yōgana)

Further reading

Chinese Wikisource has digitized text of the Kangxi Dictionary entry for 世:

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Wikisource

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 77, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31
• Dae Jaweon: page 155, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 14, character 6
• Unihan data for U+4E16

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 世
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Bronze inscriptions b02948 b02949 b02950 b02951 b02952 b02953 b02954 b02955 b02956 b02957 b02958 b02959 b02960 b02961 b02962 b02963 b02964 b02965 b02966 b02967 b02968 b02969 b02970 b02971 b02972 Small seal script s01647 Transcribed ancient scripts L35781 L35782 L35783 L35784 L35785 L35786 L35787 L35788 L35789 L35790 L35791 L35792 L35793 L19868 L19869 L19870 L19871 L19872 L19873 L19874 L19875 L19876 L19877 L19878 L19879 L19880 L19881 L19882 L19883 L19884 L19885
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

• Pictogram (象形) – three leaves on a branch. The derivative 葉 (OC *hljeb, *leb) refers to the original word.
• Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : Triplication of 十 (“ten”) - thirty, such as a variant form 丗. Thirty years make one generation (thirty times twelve months gives 360 months). Compare 廿 (OC *njɯb, “id-2”).

Etymology

世 (OC *hljebs) is derived from iterative devoicing of 葉 (OC *leb, “leaf”) + *-s suffix, meaning successive foliages of a tree > generations. Compare Tibetan ལོ་མ (lo ma, “leaf”), Western Tibetan ལོབ་མ (lob ma, “leaf”) and Tibetan ལོ (lo, “year”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

世

1. generation

   世代  ―  shìdài  ―  generation

   德皇威廉二世  ―  déhuáng Wēilián èr shì  ―  Kaiser Wilhelm II

   • 子曰：「如有王者，必世而後仁。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子曰：「如有王者，必世而后仁。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Zǐ yuē: “Rú yǒu wángzhě, bì shì ér hòu rén.”

     The Master said, "If a truly royal ruler were to arise, it would still require a generation, and then virtue would prevail."

2. (literary, or in compounds) for many generations; spanning many generations

   世襲／世袭  ―  shìxí  ―  to inherit; to succeed

   世仇  ―  shìchóu  ―  hereditary enemy

   • 下武維周，世有哲王。三后在天，王配于京。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     下武维周，世有哲王。三后在天，王配于京。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Xià wǔ wéi Zhōu, shì yǒu zhé wáng. Sān hòu zài tiān, wáng pèi yú jīng.

     Successors tread in the steps in our Zhou; for generations there had been wise kings. The three sovereigns were in heaven; and king was their worthy successor in his capital.

3. (in terms of address) longstanding friendship between two families; generations of family friendship

   世伯  ―  shìbó  ―  uncle (friend of one's father)

4. lifetime; all one's life; one's whole life

   一生一世  ―  yīshēngyīshì  ―  all one's life

   下世 [Cantonese]  ―  haa⁶ sai³   ―  next life

5. era; period; time

   當今之世／当今之世  ―  dāngjīn zhī shì  ―  at present; nowadays

   • 鴻荒之世，聖人惡之，是以法始乎伏犠而成乎堯。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     鸿荒之世，圣人恶之，是以法始乎伏犠而成乎尧。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Yang Xiong, Fa Yan (Exemplary Sayings), 9 CE

     Hónghuāng zhī shì, shèngrén wù zhī, shìyǐ fǎ shǐ hū Fúxī ér chéng hū Yáo.

     The sages hated the primeval time. Thus, laws and institutions were established by Fuxi and were completed by Yao.

6. (geology) epoch (geochronologic unit)

   全新世  ―  quánxīnshì  ―  holocene

7. world; people in the world

   世界  ―  shìjiè  ―  world

   在世  ―  zàishì  ―  alive

   • 世稱東方生之盛也，言不純師，行不純表，其流風、遺書，蔑如也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     世称东方生之盛也，言不纯师，行不纯表，其流风、遗书，蔑如也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Yang Xiong, Fa Yan (Exemplary Sayings), 9 CE

     Shì chēng Dōngfāng shēng zhī shèng yě, yán bù chún shī, xíng bù chún biǎo, qí liúfēng, yíshū, mièrú yě.

     The world lauds the exuberance of Dongfang Shuo's life. But in speaking, he was not sincere enough to be a teacher, and in action, he was not a sincere enough to be a role model. The remnants of his writings that are still floating around should be discarded.

8. (literary, or in compounds) dynasty; regime

   • 問今是何世，乃不知有漢，無論魏晉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     问今是何世，乃不知有汉，无论魏晋。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源記), by Tao Yuanming, 421 (Wiktionary translation)

     Wèn jīn shì hé shì, nǎi bùzhī yǒu Hàn, wúlùn Wèi Jìn.

     They asked what the current ruling dynasty was. Surprisingly, they had not even heard of the Han, let alone the Wei and the Jin.

   • 爰自麗世之季，及至我朝之初，屢經島夷之陸梁，寺亦焚燬。 [Korean Literary Sinitic, trad.]

     From: Former inscription at Gunjasa Temple, Hamyang County, 1684

     원자여세지계^(로) 급지아조지초^(히) 누경도이지육량^(하야) 사역분훼^(라)
     Won ja Yeo se ji gye, geupji ajo ji cho, nu gyeong doi ji yungnyang, sa yeok bunhwe. [Sino-Korean]

     From the end of the Goryeo dynasty to the early years of the present dynasty, suffered repeated incursions by the island savages, and the temple was also burnt and destroyed.

9. (literary, or in compounds) year; age
10. (literary, or in compounds) worldly; profane; secular

    人情世故  ―  rénqíngshìgù  ―  ways of the world

11. a surname

Synonyms

• (generation): 代 (dài)
• (for many generations):

• (lifetime):

• (era):

• (world):

• (dynasty):

Compounds

References

• “世”, 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

Kanji

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: せ (se, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せい (sei, Jōyō)
• Kun: よ (yo, 世, Jōyō)
• Nanori: とし (toshi); ゆ (yu); ゆき (yuki)

Compounds

Etymology 1

⟨yo₂⟩ → /yo/

From Old Japanese, pronunciation is distinct from 夜 (/⁠yo₁⁠/, “night, nighttime”).

Change in meaning of 節 (yo), in the sense of the bamboos and reeds bulging at certain intervals.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) よ​ (Atamadaka – )
• (Tokyo) よ (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

世(よ) • (yo) 

1. world, society
2. this world, this life

   Synonym: 俗世間 (zoku seken)

3. (archaic) generation, age, era
4. lifetime

   Synonym: 一生 (isshō)

5. lifespan

   Synonym: 寿命 (jumyō)

6. time of year, season

   Synonyms: 時節 (jisetsu), 時期 (jiki), 折 (ori)

7. relationship between a man and a woman
8. period of a person leading as a patriarch (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 世 (MC syejH). The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing.

Counter

世(せい) • (-sei) 

1. generation

   ルパン三(さん)世(せい)

   Rupan-sansei

   Lupin the Third

Suffix

世(せい) • (-sei) 

1. (geology) epoch

Proper noun

世(せい) • (Sei) 

1. a female given name

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 世 (MC syejH).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

世

Wikisource

世 (eumhun 인간(人間) 세 (in'gan( 人間 ) se))

1. Hanja form^? of 세 (“world”).
2. Hanja form^? of 세 (“lineage; generation”).

Compounds

References

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

Okinawan

Kanji

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On (unclassified): し (shi)
• Kun: ゆー (yū, 世)

Compounds

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 世 (yo).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

世(ゆー) (yū) 

1. age, era, period, time; rule
2. world, society

Derived terms

• アメリカ世(ゆー) (amerika-yū): American era or rule over the Okinawan Islands
• 戦(いくさ)世(ゆー) (ikusayū): wartime, war era, war period
• 大和(やまとぅ)世(ゆー) (yamatu-yū): Japanese era or rule over the Okinawan Islands

References

• “ゆー【世】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

Vietnamese

Han character

世: Hán Việt readings: thế
世: Nôm readings: thế, thá, thé, thể

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

References

• Nom Foundation