客

Stroke order

客 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 十竹水口 (JHER), four-corner 3060₄, composition ⿱宀各)

• 額 (额)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 284, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7128
• Dae Jaweon: page 561, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 927, character 13
• Unihan data for U+5BA2

Historical forms of the character 客
Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *kʰraːɡ): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 各 (OC *klaːɡ) – a guest.

Probably belongs to the word family of 格 (OC *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ, “to go, to come”). Schuessler (2007) cites Tibetan དགྲ (dgra, “enemy”) as a possible cognate.

客

1. guest; visitor

   我家來客了。／我家来客了。  ―  Wǒ jiā lái kè le.  ―  A guest has come to visit my home.

   • 花徑不曾緣客掃，蓬門今始為君開。
     花径不曾缘客扫，蓬门今始为君开。

     From: 761, Du Fu, 客至 (A Guest Comes); translated by Stephen Owen

     Huājìng bùcéng yuán kè sǎo, péngmén jīn shǐ wèi jūn kāi.

     My flowered path has never yet been swept on account of a guest,
     my ramshackle gate for the first time today is open because of you.

2. customer; client; consumer (Classifier: 個／个 c; 位 c)

   客滿／客满  ―  kèmǎn  ―  to have a full house

   今日鋪頭有個客好麻煩啊。
   今日铺头有个客好麻烦啊。

   gam¹ jat⁶ pou³ tau^4-2 jau⁵ go³ haak³ hou² maa⁴ faan⁴ aa³.

   There was a really annoying customer at the store today.

3. to treat with guest etiquette; to receive friendly
4. minor; less major; less important
5. Agent suffix, indicating “one that engages in ...”.

   政客  ―  zhèngkè  ―  politician

   刺客  ―  cìkè  ―  assassin

6. one who sponges on a wealthy family; hanger-on; sponger
7. traveller; passenger; one who lives away from home
8. to live away from home; to live abroad
9. (in general) people; person
10. objective; beyond human consciousness

    客觀／客观  ―  kèguān  ―  objective

11. Hakka

    客話／客话   ―  Hak-fa   ―  Hakka language

    純客縣／纯客县  ―  chúnkèxiàn  ―  county whose residents are all Hakka people

12. Classifier for units of food sold.

    • 程凌要了兩客西瓜
      程凌要了两客西瓜

      From: 棋王

      Chéng Líng yào le liǎng kè xīguā

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

    • 1994 or later, “品嚐正宗咖哩 (本格カレーを食べるゾ)”, in Crayon Shin-chan (anime), Taiwanese Mandarin edition, episode 116:

      商業午餐兩客。／商业午餐两客。  ―  Shāngyè wǔcān liǎng kè.  ―  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

13. (literary, obsolete) last; previous

    客歲／客岁  ―  kèsuì  ―  last year

    客冬  ―  kèdōng  ―  last winter

14. a surname

• (Hakka): 客家 (Kèjiā)

Others:

• → English: Khek (“Hakka”)
• → Proto-Hmong-Mien: *khæk (“guest”)
  • White Hmong: qhua (“guest”)
• → Lao: ແຂກ (khǣk, “guest”)
• → Thai: แขก (kɛ̀ɛk, “guest”), แคะ (kɛ́, “Hakka”)
• → Vietnamese: Hẹ (“Hakka”)
• → Zhuang: hek (“guest; tourist”), hak (“government official”)

• “客”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “客”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

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

• Go-on: きゃく (kyaku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: かく (kaku, Jōyō)
• Kun: まろうど (marōdo, 客)^{←まらうど (maraudo, 客, historical)}

• (Tokyo) きゃく (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

From Middle Chinese 客 (MC khaek). Compare modern Hokkien literary reading khik.

客(きゃく) • (kyaku) 

1. guest; visitor
2. customer; client
3. patron

This is used as part of a form of address for a customer, like sir or ma'am. Because a customer is in a much higher social position, this word is used with the honorific prefix 御(お) (o-) and the honorific suffix さん (-san) or more often 様(さま) (-sama), rendering お客(きゃく)さん (okyaku-san) or お客(きゃく)様(さま) (okyaku-sama).

• (Tokyo) まろーど (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

⟨marepi₁to₂⟩ → */marepʲitə/ → /marefito/ → /marohito/ → /maroːdo/

According to Kadokawa Old Japanese Dictionary (角川古語大辞典), it is a combination of 稀(まれ) (mare, “rare”) and 人(ひと) (hito, “person”).

客(まろうど) • (marōdo) 

1. guest, visitor
   • 753, Bussekika (仏足石歌):

     薬師は常のもあれど客の今の薬師貴かりけり
     やくしはつねのもあれどまろうどのいまのやくしたかかりけり

     Though the Apothecary is always there, the visitors today are treasuring him.

   • 1897, Ozaki Kōyō, Konjikiyasha (金色夜叉):

     此の敬ふべき客の為に辛くも一条の道を開けり。
     このうやまふべきまろうどのためにからくもいちじょうのみちをあけり。

     We have made every effort to make way for this esteemed guest.

2. foreigner, outsider
   • 720, Nihon Shoki (日本書紀):

     高麗の客に朝に饗へたまふ
     こまのまらうとにみかとにあへたまふ

     A morning feast for the Goryeo foreigners.

From Middle Chinese 客 (MC khaek). Recorded as Middle Korean ᄀᆡᆨ〮 (kóyk) (Yale: koyk) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

客

Wikisource

客 (eumhun 손 객 (son gaek))

1. hanja form^? of 객 (“guest”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

客: Hán Nôm readings: khách

1. chữ Hán form of khách (“visitor; guest”)