咫

Translingual

Han character

咫 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 尸人口金 (SORC), four-corner 7680₈, composition ⿺尺只)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 186, character 15
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3542
• Dae Jaweon: page 405, character 36
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 624, character 1
• Unihan data for U+54AB

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kljeʔ) : semantic 尺 (“ruler; measuring stick”) + phonetic 只 (OC *klje, *kljeʔ)

Pronunciation

Definitions

咫

1. unit of measurement during the Zhou dynasty, equal to eight cun/tsun (寸)

   • 楛矢貫之，石砮其長尺有咫。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     楛矢贯之，石砮其长尺有咫。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Guoyu, circa 4^th century BCE

     Hù shǐ guàn zhī, shí nú qí cháng chǐ yǒu zhǐ.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 對曰：「天威不違顏咫尺，小白，余敢貪天子之命無下拜？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     对曰：「天威不违颜咫尺，小白，余敢贪天子之命无下拜？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Duì yuē: “Tiānwēi bù wéi yán zhǐchǐ, xiǎobái, yú gǎn tān tiānzǐ zhī mìng wú xiàbài?

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. ^† few; little

   Synonym: 少

   • 王曰：「是知天咫，安知民則？是言誕也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     王曰：「是知天咫，安知民则？是言诞也。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Guoyu, circa 4^th century BCE

     Wáng yuē: “Shì zhī tiān zhǐ, ān zhī mín zé? Shì yán dàn yě.”

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. ^† short

   Synonym: 短 (duǎn)

   • 北首燕路，而後遣辯士奉咫尺之書，暴其所長於燕，燕必不敢不聽從。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     北首燕路，而后遣辩士奉咫尺之书，暴其所长于燕，燕必不敢不听从。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Běi shǒu yàn lù, ér hòu qiǎn biàn shì fèng zhǐchǐ zhī shū, bào qí suǒ cháng yú yàn, yàn bì bùgǎn bù tīngcóng.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Compounds

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

咫

Wikipedia ^ja

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: し (shi)^{←し (si, historical)}
• Kan-on: し (shi)^{←し (si, historical)}
• Kun: あた (ata, 咫); た (ta, 咫)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese. First cited to the Kojiki of 712, with the phonetic spelling 阿多 (ata).

Possibly derived from verb 当つ (atu, “to place one thing against another; to touch, to come into contact”, modern verb pair 当てる (ateru, transitive), 当たる (ataru, intransitive)), from the sense of placing one's hand against something to measure it.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

咫(あた) • (ata) 

1. (historical, archaic) roughly corresponds to the hand (traditional unit of length; in Japan, described as originally the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the middle finger (or possibly index finger) with the hand outstretched, often defined as eight 寸 (sun, “traditional inch”) or roughly 18cm)

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Appears to be a shortening of ata.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

咫(た) • (ta) 

1. (historical, archaic) roughly corresponds to the hand (traditional unit of length; in Japan, described as originally the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the middle finger (or possibly index finger) with the hand outstretched, often defined as eight 寸 (sun, “traditional inch”) or roughly 18cm)

Usage notes

This shortened reading ta seems to only appear in compounds.

Derived terms

• 八咫鏡 (Yata no Kagami, “The Eight-Ata Mirror”, one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan)
• 八咫烏 (Yata-garasu, “The Eight-Ata Crow”, an important figure in Shinto)

Etymology 3

From Middle Chinese 咫 (MC tsyeX).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

咫(し) • (shi) 

1. (historical, archaic) roughly corresponds to the hand (traditional unit of length; in Japan, described as originally the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the middle finger (or possibly index finger) with the hand outstretched, often defined as eight 寸 (sun, “traditional inch”) or roughly 18cm)

Usage notes

Only appears in compounds.

Derived terms

• 咫尺 (shiseki, “nearby; a short distance”)

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 咫 (MC tsyeX).

Pronunciation

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

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

咫

Wikisource

咫 (eumhun 여덟 치 지 (yeodeol chi ji))

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

Compounds

References

• Naver Hanja Dictionary: 咫

Vietnamese

Han character

咫: Hán Việt readings: chỉ
咫: Nôm readings: chỉ

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

References