予

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

予 (Kangxi radical 6, 亅+3, 4 strokes, cangjie input 弓戈弓弓 (NINN), four-corner 1720₂, composition ⿱龴𠄐)

1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №127

Derived characters

• 伃, 𠰄, 㘧, 妤, 㜿, 𢎻, 𭛞, 忬, 抒, 汿, 𤝉, 䦽, 杼, 沀, 㶦, 𤤂, 𨑦, 㐨, 𤰩, 𥄛, 䂛, 𥝱, 紓(纾), 𦍗, 𧠐, 𧦃, 𧺥, 𨋋, 野, 𨱢, 𨥤, 舒, 魣(𮬛), 𪐧, 𮓪, 𭌗, 𪜝, 預(预), 𣖦, 𩿎, 豫, 㮊, 序, 芧, 𤵈, 𥩧, 𬯺, 𣏗, 𡍳, 㙒, 𡆹

Further reading

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

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Wikisource

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 85, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 231
• Dae Jaweon: page 174, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 52, character 2
• Unihan data for U+4E88

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 予
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script
Oracle bone script j10319 Small seal script s02873 Transcribed ancient scripts L34283 L34284 L14210 L14211 L14212 L14213 L14214 L14215 L14216 L14217 L14218 L14219 L14220
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).

Jiajie (假借) and Ideogram (指事) . Originally 吕 (OC *ɡ·raʔ) borrowed for sound, later 亅 was added as a distinguishing mark.

Etymology 1

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-la (“to pay; to give for”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

予

1. (alt. form 與／与) to give
2. to praise; to esteem

Compounds

Etymology 2

與 (OC *laʔ) is often considered to be the original character (Lin, 1998, 1999; Mei, 2007); Taiwan's Ministry of Education considers the cognate 予 (OC *laʔ) to be the original character. In either case, this would be the same word as etymology 1.

Alternatively, Zhao (1991) argues that this is a Kra-Dai substrate, suggesting a borrowing from Proto-Tai *haɰꟲ (“to give”), whence Zhuang hawj (“to give; to allow”) and Bouyei haec (“to give; to allow”). Note that the Tai word has been connected to Middle Chinese 許 (MC xjoX, “to allow”) (Manomaivibool, 1975). On the other hand, Zheng (2008) considers both the Hokkien word and the Kra-Dai word to be derived from 與.

Assuming 與 to be the etymon, there are also various theories on the development of the h- initial:

• Old Chinese /*ɡl/ → /*ɡ/ → /*ɣ/ → /h/ (Mei, 2007);
• Fricativization of the /*l/ initial in Old Chinese, possibly originating in the Chu dialect (Zheng, 2008);
• /tʰ/ (Quanzhou) → /h/ (other varieties) (Lin, 1998; Zhou, 2006; Taiwan's Ministry of Education).

Sagart (2017c) considers 與／与 to be a problematic etymon but agrees with the third theory on the development of h- above. He suggests that a possible trigger for the change from /tʰ/ to /h/ is that /tʰɔ/ is often used with 乞 /kʰit/, allowing /kʰit tʰɔ/ to be reanalysed as /kʰit hɔ/. This etymology was also independently proposed by Lien (2002).

Pronunciation

Definitions

予

1. (Hokkien) to give

   伊予我五箍。 [Hokkien, trad. and simp.]

   I hō͘ góa gō͘ kho͘. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   He gave me five dollars.

2. (Teochew) to deliver; to give
3. (Hokkien) to allow

   予伊去！ [Hokkien]  ―  Hō͘ i khì! [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  Let it go!

4. (Hokkien) to cause; to make
5. (Hokkien, Teochew) by (used in constructing the passive)

   伊予人拍。 [Hokkien]  ―  I hō͘ lâng phah. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  He was beaten up (by someone).

6. (Penang Hokkien) to pay

Synonyms

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Traditionally considered a variant of 余 (OC *la), however Shijing and Chuci rhymes suggests that the expected tone reflex was rising tone, similar to Pronunciation 1 (Mattos, 1971; Pulleyblank, 1995), which corresponds to a glottal stop coda in Old Chinese. It could thus be reanalyzed an emphatic form of the *l- series of first-person pronouns, similar to 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ, “me, us”) compared to 吾 (OC *ŋaː, “I, we”) in the *ŋ- series.

Cognate with 余 (OC *la), 台 (OC *lɯ, “I”), 朕 (OC *l'ɯmʔ). Further etymology is obscure (Schuessler, 2007). Li F. (1976) reconstructs Old Chinese *rag, and compares it to Proto-Tai *rawᴬ (“first person plural pronoun”) > Thai เรา (rao, “we”). However, Schuessler considers this etymon belonging to 兩 (OC *raŋʔ, *raŋs, “both”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

予

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of 余 (“I, me”)

   • 予畏上帝，不敢不正。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

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

     Yú wèi shàngdì, bù gǎn bù zhèng.

     As I fear the Heaven, I dare not but punish him.

   • 夫子矢之曰：「予所否者，天厭之！天厭之！」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     夫子矢之曰：「予所否者，天厌之！天厌之！」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Fūzǐ shǐ zhī yuē: “Yú suǒ pǐ zhě, tiān yàn zhī! Tiān yàn zhī!”

     On which the Master swore, saying, "Wherein I have done improperly, may Heaven reject me! May Heaven reject me!"

2. a surname

Synonyms