何

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

何 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人一弓口 (OMNR), four-corner 2122₀, composition ⿰亻可)

Derived characters

• 哬, 荷, 𢬲, 𣒍, 𣵣, 𧨂, 𥮆, 𢚨, 𨵅
• 𭨸, 𫱖, 𫳵

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 98, character 15
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 511
• Dae Jaweon: page 208, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 130, character 4
• Unihan data for U+4F55

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 何
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 j18879 j18880 j18881 j18882 j18883 j18884 j18885 j18886 j18887 j18888 j18889 j18890 j18891 j18892 j18893 j18894 j18895 j18896 j18897 j18898 j18899 j18901 j18902 j18903 j18904 j18905 j18906 j18907 j18908 j18909 j18910 j18911 j18913 j18914 j18915 j18916 j18917 j18918 j18919 j18920 j18921 j18922 j18923 j18924 j18925 j18926 j18927 j18928 j18929 j18930 j18931 Bronze inscriptions b12289 b12290 Small seal script s05736 Transcribed ancient scripts L32362 L08383 L08384 L08385 L08386 L08387 L08377 L08378 L08379 L08380 L08381 L08382
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).

In the oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形) : a man carrying something on their shoulder – the original form of 荷 (OC *ɡaːlʔ, “to carry”).

The object being carried may have been 戈 (gē), in which case the character is also an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ) : semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 戈 (OC *koːl, “dagger-axe”).

In the bronze inscriptions, some forms of the character were phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ) : semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ), from which the modern form derives.

Etymology

Cognate with the following interrogative pronouns:

• 胡 (OC *ɡaː, “what; why”)
• 奚 (OC *ɡeː, “what; why; where”)
• 曷 (OC *ɡaːd, “why”)
• 盍 (OC *ɡaːb, “why not”): from the fusion of 何不 (OC *ɡaːl pɯ, “why not”)

In Sino-Tibetan, cognate with Tibetan ག་ན (ga na, “where; how”), Tibetan ག་རུ (ga ru, “to where”) (Schuessler, 2007).

STEDT, on the other hand, compares 何 (OC *ɡaːlʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka (“which; like; deictic; interrogative”), to which 幾 (OC *kɯlʔ, “how many”) and 豈 (OC *ŋ̊ʰɯlʔ, “how”) are also compared.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

何

1. (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. of something) what; which

   何處／何处  ―  héchù  ―  where

   何日  ―  hérì  ―  what day; when

   • 伯夷、叔齊何人也？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     伯夷、叔齐何人也？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Bó Yí, Shū Qí hérén yě?

     What sort of men were Bo Yi and Shu Qi?

   • 王曰：「何謂朝雲？」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     王曰：「何谓朝云？」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Song Yu, 高唐賦

     Wáng yuē: “Héwèi zhāo yún?”

     The king said, "What is this so-called 'Morning Clouds'?"

   • 大王來何操？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     大王来何操？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Dàwáng lái hé cāo?

     Your Majesty, what did you bring along?

2. (literary) where; what place

   何去何從／何去何从  ―  héqùhécóng  ―  what course to follow or take

   • 忠且見棄，軫不之楚何歸乎？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     忠且见弃，轸不之楚何归乎？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Zhōng qiě jiàn qì, zhěn bù zhī chǔ hé guī hū?

     Being loyal to the state yet still abandoned, where can I (Chen Zhen) go if I do not go to Chu?

   • 士生於世，使其中不自得，將何往而非病？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     士生于世，使其中不自得，将何往而非病？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1083, 蘇轍 (Su Zhe), 黃州快哉亭記

     Shì shēng yú shì, shǐ qí zhōng bù zìdé, jiāng hé wǎng ér fēi bìng?

     If an intellectual living in the world does not feel happy, where can he go and not feel anxious?

3. (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for reason, manner, etc. of an action) why; how

   何必  ―  hébì  ―  why must you

   何不  ―  hébù  ―  why not

   • 夫子何哂由也？ [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

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

     Fūzǐ hé shěn Yóu yě?

     Master, why did you smile at You?

   • 亦何憂令名不彰邪？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     亦何忧令名不彰邪？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Liu Yiqing (editor), A New Account of the Tales of the World, 5^th century CE

     Yì hé yōu lìngmíng bù zhāng xié?

     Why do you worry about being not famous?

4. (literary) (forming emphatic sentences) so; such; what; how

   • 秦皇掃六合，虎視何雄哉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     秦皇扫六合，虎视何雄哉。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 8th century, 李白, 古風·其三

     Qínhuáng sǎo liù hé, hǔshì hé xióng zāi.

     Qin Shi Huang conquered the six kingdoms with a sweeping victory. How great he is when he unified the world and looked down upon it.

5. a surname

   何應欽／何应钦  ―  Hé Yìngqīn  ―  He Yingqin (Kuomintang general)

   何鴻燊／何鸿燊 [Cantonese]  ―  ho⁴ hung⁴ san¹   ―  Stanley Ho (Hong Kong billionaire)

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:何.

Synonyms

Compounds