亞

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See also: 亚 and 亜
亞 U+4E9E, 亞
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E9E
← 亝
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 亟 →

Translingual

Traditional 亞
Shinjitai 亜
Simplified 亚

Han character

亞 (Kangxi radical 7, 二+6, 8 strokes, cangjie input 一中中一 (MLLM), four-corner 10107, composition ⿴二⿰⿳丨一𠃑⿳𠃑一丨)

  1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №506

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 87, character 13
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 274
  • Dae Jaweon: page 183, character 20
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 23, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+4E9E

Chinese

trad. 亞
simp. 亚
alternative forms 亜
𠀓
𠄮
俹／𱎫
䢝

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 亞
Shang Western Zhou Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script

j29651

j29652

j29653

j29654

j29655

j29656

j29657

j29658

j29659

j29660

j29661

j29662

j29663

j29664

j29665

j29666

j29667

j29668

j29669

j29670

j29671

j29672

j29673

j29674

j29675

j29676

j29677

j29678

j29679

j29680

j29681

j29682

j29683

j29684

j29685

j29686

j29687

j29688

j29689

j29690

j29691

j29692

j29693

j29694

j29695

j29696

j29697

j29698

j29699

j29700

j29701

j29702

j29703

j29704

j29705

j29706

j29707

j29708

j29709

j29710

j29711

j29712

j29713

j29714

j29715

j29716

j29717

j29718

j29719

j29720

j29721

j29722

j29723

j29724

j29725

j29726

j29727

j29728

j29729

j29730

j29731

Bronze inscriptions

b19832

b19833

b19834

b19835

b19836

b19837

b19838

b19839

b19840

b19841

b19842

b19843

b19844

b19845

b19846

b19847

b19848

b19849

b19850

b19851

b19852

b19853

b19854

Small seal script

s10917

Transcribed ancient scripts

L36894

L23820

L23821

L23822

L23823

L23824

L23825

L23826

L23827

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).
Characters in the same phonetic series (亞) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
椏 *qaːʔ, *qraː
錏 *qraː
鵶 *qraː
啞 *qraːʔ, *qraːɡs, *qraːɡ, *qraːɡ
瘂 *qraːʔ
亞 *qraːɡs
婭 *qraːɡs
俹 *qraːɡs
稏 *qraːɡs
惡 *qaː, *qaːɡs, *qaːɡ
噁 *qaːɡs
堊 *qaːɡ
蝁 *qaːɡ

Pictogram (象形) : an overhead view of a construction, likely a 亞-shaped tomb.

Etymology 1

Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔrak (“inferior; dependent”), whence Tibetan རག (rag, “to depend on; subject; subservient; dependent”) (Bodman, 1980; Coblin, 1986).

Karlgren (1957) connects it to 惡 (OC *qaːɡ, “evil”), but Schuessler (2007) considers this to be unlikely due to the semantics.

The shangsheng pronunciation in Mandarin (yǎ) is a result of influence from the pronunciation of 啞／哑 (yǎ), whose written form contains 亞 as a component (Fu, 1958).

Pronunciation

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.
Note:
  • a, ah - vernacular;
  • à - literary.
Rime
Character 亞
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 影 (34)
Final (韻) 麻 (98)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) II
Fanqie 衣嫁切
Baxter 'aeH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ʔˠaH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ʔᵚaH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ʔaH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ʔaɨH/
Li
Rong 		/ʔaH/
Wang
Li 		/aH/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/ʔaH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		yà
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		aa3
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 亞
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		yà
Middle
Chinese 		‹ ʔæH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ʔˁrak-s/
English secondary

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 亞
Reading # 1/1
No. 14212
Phonetic
component 		亞
Rime
group 		暮
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		亞
Old
Chinese 		/*qraːɡs/

Definitions

亞

  1. † a house (four walls & windows, seen from above)
  2. second; inferior
    亞軍／亚军  ―  yàjūn  ―  second place
    不亞於／不亚于  ―  bù yàyú  ―  not inferior to
  3. † Alternative form of 婭／娅
  4. a surname

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

Definitions

亞

  1. (～洲) Short for 亞細亞／亚细亚 (Yàxìyà, “Asia”).

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (亞):
  • → Japanese: 亜(あ) (a)
  • → Korean: 아(亞) (a)
  • → Vietnamese: Á (亞)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

Definitions

亞

  1. (chiefly dialectal) Alternative form of 阿 (“kinship prefix”)

Compounds

References

Japanese

Shinjitai

亜

Kyūjitai

亞

Kanji

亞

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 亜)

  1. rank
  2. follow
  3. sub- prefix

Readings

Definitions

For pronunciation and definitions of 亞 – see the following entry.
【亜】S
Hyōgaiji kanji
rank
follow
sub- prefix
Used in transliteration of place names.
Kanji reading:
え, あく, よう, あ, おう, つぐ, つぎ, ], ]
(This term, 亞, is the kyūjitai of the above term.)

Usage notes

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 亞 (MC 'aeH).

Historical readings

Pronunciation

  • (phonetic element in transliterations):
  • (second; sub-; ranking next; etc.):
    • (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:

Wikisource

亞 (eumhun 버금 아 (beogeum a))

  1. Hanja form? of 아 (“second; sub-”).
  2. Hanja form? of 아 (“ranking next; coming after”).
  3. Hanja form? of 아 (“Asia (abbreviation)”).
  4. Hanja form? of 아 (“used as a prefix to names”).

Compounds

Compounds

Proper noun

Hanja in this term
亞

亞 • (A) (hangeul 아)

  1. (in headlines) Short for 亞細亞아세아 (Asea, “Asia”).

Usage notes

A common convention in news headlines, this is almost always written solely in the Hanja form, even in contemporary Korean text otherwise devoid of any Hanja.

References

  • 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

亞: Hán Nôm readings: á, a

  1. Asia
  2. Asiatic

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia