兄

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

兄 (Kangxi radical 10, 儿+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 口竹山 (RHU), four-corner 6021₀, composition ⿱口儿)

Derived characters

• 兌, 兑, 況(况), 祝, 呪, 柷, 貺(贶), 㚾, 眖, 𤔓, 𪺎, 怳, 㫛, 𰃋, 𣅷, 𣍦, 炾, 𦬺, 岲, 𡶢, 𠩣, 𪾍, 軦, 𭀢, 𬞁, 𮞈

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 123, character 9
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1343
• Dae Jaweon: page 259, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 266, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5144

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 兄
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script j20630 j20631 j20632 j20633 j20634 j20635 j20636 j20637 j20638 j20639 j20640 j20641 j20642 j20643 j20644 j20645 j20646 j20647 j20648 j20649 j20650 j20651 j20652 j20653 j20654 j20655 j20656 j20657 j20658 j20659 j20660 j20661 j20662 j20663 j20664 j20665 j20666 j20667 j20668 j20669 j20670 j20671 j20672 j20673 j20674 j20675 j20676 j20677 j20678 j20679 j20680 j20681 j20682 j20683 j20684 j20685 j20686 j20687 j20688 j20689 j20690 j20691 j20692 j20693 j20694 j20695 j20696 j20697 j20698 j20699 j20700 j20701 j20702 j20703 j20704 j20705 j20706 j20707 j20708 j20709 j20710 j20711 j20712 j20713 j20714 j20715 j20716 j20717 j20718 j20719 j20720 j20721 j20722 j20723 j20724 j20725 j20726 j20727 j20728 j20729 j20730 j20731 j20732 j20733 j20734 j20735 j20736 j20737 j20738 j20739 j20740 j20741 j20742 j20743 j20744 Bronze inscriptions b13475 b13476 b13477 b13478 b13479 b13480 b13481 b13482 b13483 b13484 b13485 b13486 b13487 b13488 b13489 b13490 b13491 b13492 b13493 b13494 b13495 b13496 b13497 b13498 b13499 b13500 b13501 b13502 b13504 Small seal script s06205 Transcribed ancient scripts L33193 L33194 L10751 L10752 L10753 L10754 L10755 L10756 L10757 L10758 L10759
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).

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 口 + 儿.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *maŋ (“big; old; elder (brother, uncle)”) (Sagart, 1999; STEDT). Related to 孟 (OC *mraːŋs, “great; eldest brother; first”); see there for more.

Schuessler (2007), instead, connects it to Proto-Lolo-Burmese *ʔwyik (“elder sibling”), which is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔik (“elder brother”).

Alternatively, Benedict (1972) relates it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bʷaŋ ~ *pʷaŋ (“(paternal) uncle; elder brother”), which is possibly also related to 伯 (OC *praːɡ, “paternal uncle; eldest brother”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

兄

1. elder brother
2. elder male cousin

   堂兄  ―  tángxiōng  ―  father’s brother’s son older than oneself

3. brother (male friend of the same generation)
4. (Hokkien, familiar) respectful honorific used after a name for an elder brother or any male senior: Mister; Brother

Synonyms

• (elder brother):

Compounds

Descendants

• → Thai: เฮีย (hiia)
• → Lao: ເຮຍ (hīa)

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. elder/older brother
2. honorific referencing an older brother figure

Readings

• Go-on: きょう (kyō, Jōyō ^†)^{←きやう (kyau, historical)←くゐやう (kwyau, ancient)}
• Kan-on: けい (kei, Jōyō)^{←けい (kei, historical)←くゑい (kwei, ancient)}
• Tō-on: ひん (hin)
• Kun: あに (ani, 兄, Jōyō); にい (nii, 兄); にいさん (niisan, 兄さん); え (e, 兄)^{←え (e, 兄, historical)←𛀁 (ye, 兄, ancient)}; せ (se, 兄)
• Nanori: えだ (eda)^{←えだ (eda, historical)←𛀁だ (yeda, ancient)}; これ (kore); さき (saki); しげ (shige); ただ (tada); ね (ne); よし (yoshi)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese of unclear derivation:

• Probably originally a compound of 吾 (a, Eastern Old Japanese first-person pronoun) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 兄 (ye → e, “eldest sibling”, see below):

  ⟨a no₂ ye⟩ → */anʉʲɨe/ → /ani/

• Alternatively, an apophonic form of 姉 (ane, “elder sister”), itself possibly from the same derivation above.
• Several other theories have also been suggested.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) あ​に (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

兄(あに) • (ani) 

1. elder brother
2. elder brother-in-law

   Synonym: 義兄 (gikei)

3. Short for 花の兄 (hana no ani): alternative name for the 梅 (ume), the Japanese plum (Prunus mume)

Usage notes

• (elder brother): This term conveys neither positive nor negative connotations and is often used in objective narrations. However, using it to describe someone the speaker knows personally is often considered lacking respect, where more polite forms like お兄(にい)さん (onīsan) are preferred.

Coordinate terms

• 姉(あね) (ane, “elder sister”)
• 弟(おとうと) (otōto, “younger brother”)
• 妹(いもうと) (imōto, “younger sister”)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

*/kwæi/ → /kʷæi/ → /keː/

From Middle Chinese 兄 (MC xjwaeng).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) け​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

• Pitch accent for suffix unknown.

Noun

兄(けい) • (kei) 

1. (rare) an elder brother

   Coordinate term: 弟 (tei)

Idioms

• 兄(けい)たり難(がた)く弟(てい)たり難(がた)し (kei tarigataku tei tarigatashi)

Pronoun

兄(けい) • (kei) 

1. pronoun referencing an older brother figure: you, he

Suffix

兄(けい) • (-kei) 

1. attaches to a name referencing an older brother figure: Mister, Mr.

Etymology 3

/je/ → /e/

From Old Japanese.

Noun

兄(え) • (e) 

1. (archaic) the eldest sibling

   Antonym: 弟 (oto)

   • 711–712, Kojiki, (poem 16):
     , text here

     加都賀都母(かつがつも)伊夜佐岐陀弖流(いやさきだてる)延(𛀁)袁斯麻加牟(をしまかむ) [Man'yōgana]

     かつがつもいや先立(さきだ)てる兄(え)をし枕(ま)かむ [Modern spelling]

     katsugatsu mo iya sakidateru e o shi makamu

     If I have to choose, the one standing there in front―the eldest one I'll wed.

Derived terms

Etymology 4

From Old Japanese.

Alternative forms

• 夫, 背

Noun

兄(せ) • (se) 

1. (archaic) a woman's brother (regardless of age difference)
2. (archaic) a woman's lover or husband
3. (archaic) a familiar man

Antonyms

• 妹(いも) (imo)

Derived terms

Etymology 5

From Old Japanese.

Originally a compound of 子 (ko, “child”) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 上 (kami, “upper”).

Alternative forms

• 首, 氏上

Noun

兄(このかみ) • (konokami) 

1. (archaic) eldest son

   Synonyms: 長兄 (chōkei), 長男 (chōnan)

2. (archaic) a senior

   Synonym: 年長者 (nenchōsha)

3. (archaic) (by extension) an elder sibling
4. (archaic) the head of a clan
5. (archaic) a skilled craftsman

   Synonym: 頭 (kashira)

Derived terms

• 兄(このかみ)心(ごころ) (konokami-gokoro)
• 兄(このこう)部(べ) (konokōbe)

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 兄 (MC xjwaeng).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

兄

Wikisource

兄 (eumhun 형 형 (hyeong hyeong))

1. Hanja form^? of 형 (“older brother of a male”).

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

兄: Hán Nôm readings: huynh

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Derived terms