主

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order (Japan)

Stroke order

Han character

主 (Kangxi radical 3, 丶+4, 5 strokes, cangjie input 卜土 (YG), four-corner 0010₄, composition ⿱丶王 or ⿱亠土)

Derived characters

• 住, 𠰍, 𡊲, 妵, 往, 拄, 注, 㹥, 迬, 柱, 炷, 𤖸, 砫, 紸 (𰬇), 蛀, 註, 䝬, 跓, 軴, 鉒 (𰽯), 䪒, 飳, 駐 (驻), 黈, 𪐴, 殶
• 𰀩, 𠣕, 𦭦, 宔, 疰, 罜, 䇠, 麈, 𮏼, 𮢔, 𮢉

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 80, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 100
• Dae Jaweon: page 163, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 44, character 3
• Unihan data for U+4E3B

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 主
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script
Oracle bone script j12540 j12541 j12542 j12543 j12544 j12545 j12546 Small seal script s03652
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) : A picture of a lamp or a torch with a flame at the top.

Original form of 炷. Current meaning acquired by sound loan.

Etymology

Unclear. Compare Tibetan ཇོ་བོ (jo bo, “elder brother, nobleman, lord”), Tibetan ཇོ་མོ (jo mo, “mistress, lady, goddess”), Tibetan ཐུ། (thu, “chief”), Proto-Monic *(d)ndooʔ (“to teach, to instruct; headman”), and Thai โจก (jòok, “leader, chief”) (Schuessler, 2007)

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

主

1. owner; master
2. host
3. (archaic, honorific) you (honorific second-person pronoun addressing a "senior official" [大夫] or his spouse)

   • 季康子問于共父文伯之母曰：「主亦有以語肥也。」對曰：「吾能老而已，何以語子。」康子曰：「雖然，肥愿有聞于主。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     季康子问于共父文伯之母曰：「主亦有以语肥也。」对曰：「吾能老而已，何以语子。」康子曰：「虽然，肥愿有闻于主。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Guoyu, circa 4^th century BCE

     Jì Kāngzǐ wèn yú Gōngfǔ Wénbó zhī mǔ yuē: “Zhǔ yì yǒu yǐ yù Féi yě.” Duìyuē: “Wú néng lǎo éryǐ, héyǐ yù zǐ.” Kāngzǐ yuē: “Suīrán, Féi yuàn yǒu wén yú zhǔ.”

     Ji Kangzi (Fei) consulted the mother of Gongfu Wenbo: "Would you, madame, have something to instruct me?" "I am only good at growing old. What else can I tell you?" came her reply. "Nevertheless, I, Fei, do want to hear something from you," said Kangzi.

4. (Christianity, Islam) Lord
5. emperor
6. (colloquial, derogatory) person of a specified type
7. agent; agency

   主動／主动  ―  zhǔdòng  ―  active

   主體／主体  ―  zhǔtǐ  ―  subject (one who possesses agency)

   • 夫民，神之主也。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

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

     Fú mín, shén zhī zhǔ yě.

     The people are the agent of divine spirits.

8. party; entity

   事主  ―  shìzhǔ  ―  party (in a dispute, especially the one bringing forth the dispute)

9. main; primary; principal; major

   主要  ―  zhǔyào  ―  main

   主演  ―  zhǔyǎn  ―  leading actor

   主修  ―  zhǔxiū  ―  major curriculum

10. to be in charge; to lead; to command

    主事  ―  zhǔshì  ―  to be in charge

    • 太尉絳侯勃不得入軍中主兵。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      太尉绛侯勃不得入军中主兵。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

      Tàiwèi Jiànghóu Bó bùdé rù jūnzhōng zhǔ bīng.

      Grand Marshal Bo the Marquis of Jiang was unable to join with the armies and lead the action.

11. to indicate; to signify
12. (grammar) Short for 主語／主语 (zhǔyǔ).
13. (historical) Short for 公主 (gōngzhǔ).
14. a surname

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Proto-Tai: *ɕɤwꟲ (“master”)
  • Lao: ເຈົ້າ (chao, “lord, master, owner”)
  • Thai: เจ้า (jâao, “lord, master, owner”)
• → Vietnamese: chúa (主, “retired father of a king”), Chúa (主, “Lord”)

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

主

1. Classifier for events.
2. Alternative form of 注 (zhù, “to pour into”)

References

• “主”, 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

Shinjitai	主
Kyūjitai	主󠄁 主+󠄁? (Adobe-Japan1)
	主󠄃 主+󠄃? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. lord, master
2. main, principal

Readings

• Go-on: す (su, Jōyō ^†)^{←す (su, historical)}
• Kan-on: しゅ (shu, Jōyō)^{←しゆ (syu, historical)}
• Kun: あるじ (aruji, 主); おも (omo, 主, Jōyō); ぬし (nushi, 主, Jōyō); つかさどる (tsukasadoru, 主る)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 主 (MC tsyuX).

The kan'on pronunciation, so likely a later borrowing.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しゅ​ (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

主(しゅ) • (shu) 

1. head of the family
2. master, mistress
3. one's husband
4. proprietor, landlord

Synonyms

• 主(しゅ)人(じん) (shujin)

Proper noun

主(しゅ) • (Shu) 

1. the Lord

   主(しゅ)の兄(きょう)弟(だい)ヤコブ

   Shu no kyōdai Yakobu

   James, brother of the Lord

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 主 (MC tsyuX). Recorded as Middle Korean 쥬〮 (cyú) (Yale: cyu) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

主

Wikisource

主 (eumhun 임금 주 (imgeum ju))
主 (eumhun 주인 주 (ju'in ju))

1. Hanja form^? of 주 (“king”).
2. Hanja form^? of 주 (“master; host; main”).

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

主: Hán Việt readings: chủ, chúa
主: Nôm readings: chúa, chủ

1. chữ Hán form of chủ (“owner”).
2. Nôm form of chúa (“retired father of a king”).
3. Nôm form of Chúa (“God; Christ; Lord”).

Usage notes

• Despite being a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading, chúa is still used as Sino-Vietnamese in a few compounds such as Chúa nhật, công chúa, quận chúa, lãnh chúa, Thiên Chúa.

Compounds

• Chủ nhật (主日)
• chủ quyền (主權)
• chủ tịch (主席)

References

• Nom Foundation