太

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

太 (Kangxi radical 37, 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 大戈 (KI), four-corner 4003₀, composition ⿵大丶)

Derived characters

• 駄, 态, 盇, 㑀, 㣖, 呔, 𡛕, 汰, 忲, 𢪯, 迏, 肽, 𮋮, 𧘹, 鈦(钛), 舦, 粏, 軚, 酞, 𡳁

Descendants

• た

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 248, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5834
• Dae Jaweon: page 505, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 524, character 1
• Unihan data for U+592A

Chinese

Wikipedia has an article on:

• 太

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tʰaːds) : phonetic 大 (OC *daːds, *daːds, “big; great”) + semantic 丶 – excessive.

Etymology 1

A superlative derivative of 大 (OC *daːds, *daːds, “big”) – be too great, very great, excessive.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

太

1. too; so (modifying adjectives; often used with 了 (le) at the end of the sentence for emphasis)

   太熱了！／太热了！  ―  Tài rè le!  ―  It's so hot!

   別吃太多派。／别吃太多派。  ―  Bié chī tài duō pài.  ―  Don't eat too much pie.

   • 他的褲子太短，外套和背心又太肥大。 [MSC, trad.]
     他的裤子太短，外套和背心又太肥大。 [MSC, simp.]

     Tā de kùzi tài duǎn, wàitào hé bèixīn yòu tài féidà.

     His trousers were too short and his coat and vest too loose.

2. (usually in negative sentences) very; quite

   他不太舒服。 [Taiwanese Mandarin]  ―  Tā bù tài shūfú.   ―  He's not very well.

3. most; utmost
4. highest; greatest
5. senior; noble
6. Short for 太湖 (Tàihú, “Lake Tai, a lake in Southern Jiangsu, China”).
7. Short for 太平洋 (Tàipíngyáng, “Pacific Ocean”).

Synonyms

See also

• 很 (hěn)

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

太

1. Short for 太太 (tàitai, “wife; Miss; Mrs”).

   李太 [Cantonese]  ―  lei⁵ taai^3-2   ―  Mrs. Li

   陳太／陈太 [Cantonese]  ―  can⁴ taai^3-2   ―  Mrs. Chan

Pronunciation 3

Definitions

太

1. ^† Only used in 太末.

Compounds

Etymology 2

See Korean 太.

Definitions

太

1. (Korean Classical Chinese) soybean

   Synonym: 大豆 (dàdòu)

Etymology 3

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. (adjective): fat

Readings

• Go-on: たい (tai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: たい (tai, Jōyō)
• Kan’yō-on: た (ta, Jōyō); だ (da); だい (dai)
• Kun: ふと (futo); ふとい (futoi, 太い, Jōyō); ふとむ (futomu, 太む); ふとやか (futoyaka, 太やか); ふとる (futoru, 太る, Jōyō)
• Nanori: おお (ō); たか (taka); ひろ (hiro); ふとし (futoshi)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ふと (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

太(ふと) • (futo) 

1. fatness
2. a fat person, a fatty
3. fat-necked shamisen
4. thick thread

Synonyms

• (fat person): でぶ (debu)
• (shamisen): 太棹(ふとざお) (futozao)
• (thread): 太糸(ふといと) (futoito)

Derived terms

Prefix

太(ふと) • (futo-) 

1. added to words describing gods or the emperor or other exalted subjects to denote greatness or excellence
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 17, poem 4031:
     ; text here

     奈加等美乃 敷刀能里⟨等其⟩等 伊比波良倍 安⟨賀⟩布伊能知毛 多我多米尓奈礼

     中臣の 太祝詞言 言ひ祓へ 贖ふ命も 誰がために汝れ

     なかとみの ふとのりとごと いひはらへ あかふいのちも たがためになれ

     Nakatomi no / futonoritogoto / iiharae / akau inochi mo / ta ga tame ni nare

     Reciting the Nakatomi's excellent ritual offering, whose life was prayed for? Yours.

2. added to regular nouns to denote fatness or thickness

   太(ふと)腿(もも)、太(ふと)箸(ばし)

   futo-momo, futo-bashi

   the thigh (the thick part of the leg), fat chopsticks (used at New Years)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

The Old Japanese 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal (sentence-final) form”) of adjective 太い (futoi, “fat, thick, big”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Proper noun

太(ふとし) • (Futoshi) 

1. a male given name

Etymology 3

Derived from the root word 大 (ō, “great, big”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Proper noun

太(おお) • (Ō) ^{←おほ (ofo)?}

1. a surname

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 太 (thajH). Compare modern Mandarin 太 (tài).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Prefix

太(たい) • (tai-) 

1. big, fat, great

Usage notes

• Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 5

From a colloquial form of 太 in Middle Chinese. Compare the similar corruption in Mandarin 大 (dà).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Prefix

太(た) • (ta-) 

1. big, fat, great

Usage notes

Only found in compounds.

Derived terms

References

Korean

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

太

Wikisource

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 太 (MC thajH). The "pollock" sense is supposedly from the surname, after a fisherman.

Hanja

太 (eumhun 클 태 (keul tae))

1. Hanja form^? of 태 (“large; great; big; excessive”).
2. Hanja form^? of 태.
3. Hanja form^? of 태 (“pollock”).

Compounds

Etymology 2

A Korean graphic abbreviation of Chinese 大豆 (dàdòu, “soybean”, literally “big bean”), perhaps attested as early as the eighth century.

Presumably, it was originally used as a logogram for the native Korean word 코ᇰ (Yale: khwòng, “soybean”), without a Sino-Korean reading of its own. At some point—perhaps after the logogramic representation of native Korean words declined following the invention of the Hangul alphabet in the 1400s—it became conflated with the visually identical character 太 (“large; great”) and now shares its Sino-Korean reading, 태 (tae).

Hanja

太 (eumhun 콩 태 (kong tae))

1. Hanja form^? of 태 (“soybean”).

Compounds

Vietnamese

Han character

太: Hán Nôm readings: Thái

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