優

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See also: 优
優 U+512A, 優
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-512A
← 儩
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 儫 →
㊝ U+329D, ㊝
CIRCLED IDEOGRAPH EXCELLENT
← ㊜
 		Enclosed CJK Letters and Months ㊞ →

Translingual

Han character

優 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+15, 17 strokes, cangjie input 人一月水 (OMBE), four-corner 21247, composition ⿰亻憂)

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 120, character 28
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1261
  • Dae Jaweon: page 254, character 26
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 233, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+512A

Chinese

trad. 優
simp. 优*

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 優
Small seal script

s05803

Transcribed ancient scripts

L33551

L33552

L33553

L11732

L11733

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 (憂) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
憂 *qu
優 *qu
瀀 *qu
櫌 *qu
鄾 *qu
嚘 *qu
耰 *qu
獶 *qu
纋 *qu
懮 *quʔ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qu) : semantic 亻 + phonetic 憂 (OC *qu).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 優
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 影 (34)
Final (韻) 尤 (136)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 於求切
Baxter 'juw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ʔɨu/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ʔiu/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ʔiəu/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ʔuw/
Li
Rong 		/ʔiu/
Wang
Li 		/ĭəu/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/ʔi̯ə̯u/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		yōu
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		jau1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 優
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		yōu
Middle
Chinese 		‹ ʔjuw ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ʔ(r)u/
English entertainer; liberal

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 優
Reading # 1/1
No. 15494
Phonetic
component 		憂
Rime
group 		幽
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		憂
Old
Chinese 		/*qu/

Definitions

優

  1. generous; abundant; ample
  2. excellent; superior
  3. (literary, or in compounds) to give preferential treatment
  4. (dated) actor; entertainer
  5. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (Cantonese) to pull up (pants or socks)
  6. a surname: You

Synonyms

  • (generous):
  • (to give preferential treatment):

Antonyms

  • (antonym(s) of “excellent”): 劣 (liè)

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

優

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. a person with lithe movements
  2. kind (adj.), favor
  3. good, excellent, surpass, superior
    1. the best possible grade on school results
  4. rich, wealthy
  5. a sufficient amount for a certain thing
  6. tenderness, gentleness
  7. actor

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
優
ゆう
Grade: 6
on’yomi

Adverb

優(ゆう) • (yū) ←いう (iu)?

  1. enough, amply
  2. easily, skillfully

Noun

優(ゆう) • (yū) ←いう (iu)?

  1. A (letter grade); excellence
    Coordinate terms: 良, 可, 不可
  2. gentleness

Proper noun

優(ゆう) • (Yū) ←いう (iu)?

  1. a female given name

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
優
まさ(る)
Grade: 6
kun’yomi

Proper noun

優(まさる) • (Masaru) 

  1. a male given name

Related terms

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 優 (MC 'juw).

Historical readings

Pronunciation

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

優 (eumhun 넉넉할 우 (neongneokhal u))

  1. Hanja form? of 우 (“excellent; superior”).
  2. Hanja form? of 우 (“actor”).

Compounds

Compounds

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

優: Hán Nôm readings: ưu

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

Compounds

Compounds
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