了

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

了 (Kangxi radical 6, 亅+1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 弓弓 (NN), four-corner 1720₇, composition ⿱乛亅 or ⿱乛㇁)

Derived characters

• 𡤼, 𠆨, 𠖭, 𠮩, 𢆳, 𢩪, 𣱾, 𭨥, 𣎸, 𣬝, 辽, 𤽀, 𭾙, 䄦, 𪜜, 𥾇, 𬚊, 䑠, 𧘈, 𧾿, 𪞠, 釕(钌), 𫘵, 𩵌, 𩾒(𬷽), 𪌀, 𬼷, 𭣡, 𬻺, 𪟽, 㝋, 𭙏, 𦫼, 疗, 𥤣, 亨, 爳, 𬼶, 𠙶, 叾, 𬼹, 𰁒, 𠄏

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 85, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 226
• Dae Jaweon: page 173, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 48, character 6
• Unihan data for U+4E86

• Unihan data for U+F9BA

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 了
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script
Small seal script s10990 Transcribed ancient scripts L16444 L16445 L16446 L16447 L16448 L16449 L16450
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).

According to the Shuowen Jiezi, a pictogram (象形) of a baby without arms. Compare with 子, where the arms are visible. The Shuowen defines 了 as "the crossing of lower legs".

In the Shuowen Jiezi Zhu, it is said that the pictogram instead depicts entangled legs (了戾).

Its relation with the meaning "to finish" is likely via sound loan, but an argument can be made about "entangled legs" → "tie"→ "finish"

Etymology 1

Verb “to finish; to be completed” > perfective aspect particle (了₁, weakened form) > change-of-state modal particle (了₂). It eventually replaced classical 矣 (OC *ɢlɯʔ).

Two kinds of particle uses of 了 can be distinguished: the perfective aspect particle after verbs (conventionally written as 了₁) and the sentence-final modal particle (了₂). It is generally accepted (Wu, 1998) that these two uses of 了 are derived from the concrete verb “to finish”. The grammaticalisation of this verb had become common in the Tang Dynasty, initially in the form of ‹verb + (object) + perfective 了› to indicate the completion of an action.

The perfective particle subsequently underwent further grammaticalisation to become the sentence-final change-of-state modal particle; Liu (1985) has demonstrated that this last step may have involved the coalescence of sentence-final 了 with 也 in certain Mandarin dialects, as the pronunciations of 了₁ and 了₂ are distinct in these dialects, with 了₂ rhyming with 也.

Contrary to the suggestion in (Schuessler, 2007), this word is not related to Vietnamese rồi, due to the non-existent correspondence between any given phonemes. Thai แล้ว (lɛ́ɛo, “to be finished; already; then, afterwards”), Lao ແລ້ວ (lǣu, “to finish; to be completed; perfective particle”) are loans from Chinese.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

了

1. Used after a verb to indicate perfective aspect (action completion).

   我吃了一個蘋果。 [MSC, trad.]
   我吃了一个苹果。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ chī le yī ge píngguǒ.

   I ate an apple. / I have eaten an apple.

   • 他在北京住了兩年。 [MSC, trad.]
     他在北京住了两年。 [MSC, simp.]

     Tā zài Běijīng zhù le liǎng nián.

     He lived in Beijing for two years.

2. Used at the end of a sentence to indicate a change of state.

   他是大學生了。／他是大学生了。  ―  Tā shì dàxuéshēng le.  ―  He has become a college student / He is a college student now.

3. Used at the end of a sentence to inform the beginning of an action.

   我走了。  ―  Wǒ zǒu le.  ―  I'm leaving now.

4. (contemporary Shanghainese) Used to indicate the present tense.

Synonyms

Usage notes

• (perfective aspect particle): Most of the time, 了 is translated by a past tense. But it can also indicate that one action is completed before another.

  你吃了以後叫我。 [MSC, trad.]
  你吃了以后叫我。 [MSC, simp.]

  Nǐ chī le yǐhòu jiào wǒ.

  Call me when you are done eating.

• (change of state particle): When used as the change of state particle, 了 can be translated by “now”, “already” or “not anymore”.

  我會說中文了。／我会说中文了。  ―  Wǒ huì shuō zhōngwén le.  ―  I can speak Chinese now. (I couldn't before.)

  我喝醉了。  ―  Wǒ hēzuì le.  ―  I'm drunk.

  沒有紙了。／没有纸了。  ―  Méiyǒu zhǐ le.  ―  There's no paper anymore.

• In a question, 了 is put before the particle 嗎／吗 (ma).
• (Northern Wu): In Shanghainese, this term is primarily used to indicate the present tense and secondarily the perfective aspect. The present tense sense is derived from Old Shanghainese 哉. For the usage difference between other perfectives, see 脫了#Usage notes.

Descendants

• → English: already, liao (Singapore English) (semantic loan)

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

了

1. to be finished; to be completed
2. to end; to finish
3. to understand; to comprehend

   了解  ―  liǎojiě  ―  to understand; to realize

4. clear; plain; understandable
5. bright; intelligent; smart
6. (in negative sentences) completely; utterly; entirely
7. Used with 不 (bù) or 得 (de) after verbs to express possibility.
8. (Hokkien) to use up; to lose; to waste; to squander

Synonyms

Compounds

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. to end

Readings

• Go-on: りょう (ryō, Jōyō)^{←れう (reu, historical)}
• Kan-on: りょう (ryō, Jōyō)^{←れう (reu, historical)}
• Kun: おえる (oeru, 了える)^{←をへる (woferu, 了へる, historical)}; おわる (owaru, 了わる)^{←をはる (wofaru, 了はる, historical)}; しまう (shimau, 了う)^{←しまふ (simafu, 了ふ, historical)}; ついに (tsuini, 了に)^{←つひに (tufini, 了に, historical)}

Compounds

• 完(かん)了(りょう) (kanryō)
• 終(しゅう)了(りょう) (shūryō)
• 未(み)了(りょう) (miryō)
• 了(りょう)解(かい) (ryōkai)
• 了(りょう)承(しょう) (ryōshō)

Noun

了(りょう) • (ryō) 

1. end
2. (art works): concluded

Proper noun

了(さとる) • (Satoru) 

1. a male given name

Korean

Hanja

了 (eumhun 마칠 료 (machil ryo), South Korea 마칠 요 (machil yo))

1. Hanja form^? of 료/요 (“finish, complete”).

Vietnamese

Han character

了: Hán Việt readings: liễu (盧(lô)鳥(điểu)切(thiết)), kiết
了: Nôm readings: lểu, lẽo, liễu, lẻo, léo, líu, lếu, sáu, lèo, tréo

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

References