匙

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

匙 (Kangxi radical 21, 匕+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 日人心 (AOP), four-corner 6180₁, composition ⿺是匕)

Derived characters

• 𣼮, 𨫞

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 153, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2590
• Dae Jaweon: page 344, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 263, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5319

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 匙
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *dje) : phonetic 是 (OC *djeʔ) + semantic 匕 (“spoon”).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

匙

1. spoon

Synonyms

Compounds

See also

• 勺 (sháo), 勺子 (sháozi)
• 調羹／调羹 (tiáogēng)

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

匙

1. key (Classifier: 條／条 c)

   鑰匙／钥匙  ―  yàoshi  ―  key

   士啤匙 [Cantonese]  ―  si⁶ be¹ si⁴   ―  spare key

Synonyms

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. spoon

Readings

• Go-on: じ (ji)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kan’yō-on: ひ (hi)
• Kun: かい (kai, 匙); さじ (saji, 匙); しゃじ (shaji, 匙); すくい (sukui, 匙)

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 匙 (zhiɛ, “spoon”). The goon, so likely the earliest borrowing from Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Suffix

匙(じ) • (-ji) 

1. spoon, scoop

Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 匙 (zhiɛ, “spoon”). The kan'on, so a later borrowing. Compare modern Cantonese 匙 (ci⁴), Min Nan 匙 (sî).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Suffix

匙(し) • (-shi) 

1. spoon, scoop

Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Likely an alteration of the kan'on reading shi: /si/ → /hi/

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

匙(ひ) • (hi) 

1. spoon, scoop

Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 4

/kapi₁/ → /kapi/ → /kaɸi/ → /kahi/ → /kai/

From Old Japanese 貝 (kai, “shellfish, clam; clam shell”), from the way that clam shells were used as scoops.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

匙(かい) • (kai) ^{←かひ (kafi)?}

1. (obsolete) a scoop for food
2. (archaic, rare) a wooden sword for training

   This sense developed from an ateji spelling of 木刀 (literally, “wooden blade”) applied to the food scoop meaning.

Derived terms

Etymology 5

Originally a compound of 茶 (sa, “tea”, the tōon or Tang reading) +‎ 匙 (ji, “spoon, scoop”). This on'yomi reading for a two-character term was then applied to the single-character 匙 spelling, and re-interpreted as kun'yomi.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) さ​じ (Atamadaka – )
• (Tokyo) さじ​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

匙(さじ) • (saji) 

1. spoon, scoop used for food

   私(わたし)たちは匙(さじ)でスープを飲(の)む。

   Watashitachi wa saji de sūpu o nomu.

   We eat soup with a spoon.

2. more specifically, a spoon or scoop used for compounding medicine
3. by extension, medicine
4. by further extension, a doctor

Usage notes

In modern Japanese, the term スプーン (supūn) is used to refer to spoons in general, including spoons as found in the Western world. The term saji generally refers more to the broad, usually flat-bottomed Asian-style spoon shown at right.

The saji reading is the most common in modern Japanese when using this term as a standalone noun. The kanji spelling (匙) is rarely encountered; it is usually written in hiragana alone (さじ).

Derived terms

Idioms

Synonyms

Etymology 6

Appears to be an alteration of saji above: →

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しゃじ​ (Odaka – )
• (Tokyo) しゃ​じ (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

匙(しゃじ) • (shaji) 

1. spoon

Usage notes

This reading does not appear to be as common as the saji reading above. May be dialectal.

Etymology 7

Alternative spelling of 掬い (sukui, “scoop”), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 掬う (sukuu, “to scoop”).

Rare. Only found in compounds.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

匙(すくい) • (sukui) ^{←すくひ (sukufi)?}

1. (rare) a scoop

Usage notes

Although the general term 掬(すく)い (sukui) can serve as a standalone noun, this particular 匙 spelling for sukui is only found in compounds.

Derived terms

• 香(こう)匙(すくい) (kōsukui): an incense scoop

References

Korean

Hanja

匙 (eum 시 (si))

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

Vietnamese

Han character

匙: Hán Nôm readings: thi, thìa, thì, chủy/chuỷ

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