寡

寡 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+11, 14 strokes, cangjie input 十一金竹 (JMCH), four-corner 3022₇, composition ⿳宀頁刀)

• 𠏶, 𭄖

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 290, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7286
• Dae Jaweon: page 574, character 26
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 947, character 7
• Unihan data for U+5BE1

Historical forms of the character 寡
Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script

In the bronze script from the Western Zhou period, it was originally an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 宀 (“house”) + 頁 (“head”) — only one person in the house; alone.

In the bronze script from the Warring States period, two decorative strokes were added around 頁. The seal script found in Shuowen adds two additional strokes, making the component under 宀 appear as 分 and 頁, leading Shuowen to erroneously interpret the character as an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 宀 (“house”) + 頒 (“to distribute”).

Related to 鰥 (OC *kruːn, *kruːns, “widower”), 孤 (OC *kʷaː, “orphan; alone”) (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with Tibetan དགོན་པ (dgon pa, “solitary place; desert; wilderness”), Tibetan སྒོས (sgos, “private; individual”).

寡

1. few; scant

   寡德之人  ―  guǎdé zhī rén  ―  person of meager virtue

2. widowed
3. widow
4. alone; friendless
5. tasteless

   淨係食菜好似寡咗啲喎。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   净系食菜好似寡咗啲㖞。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   zing⁶ hai⁶ sik⁶ coi³ hou² ci⁵ gwaa² zo² di¹ wo³.

   It's kind of tasteless to eat vegetables only.

6. (Hokkien) some

   我去菜市仔買寡青菜。 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
   我去菜市仔买寡青菜。 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

   Góa khì chhài-chhī-á bé kóa chheⁿ-chhài. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   I'm going to the market to buy some vegetables.

7. (Central Min) one

• “Entry #10471”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(Jōyō kanji)}

1. few, scant
2. to decrease
3. lonely
4. widow, widower
5. lowly (humble; of low virtue)

• Go-on: け (ke)
• Kan-on: か (ka, Jōyō)
• Kun: やもめ (yamome, 寡)、すくない (sukunai, 寡ない)

• (widow, alone): 寡夫(かふ) (kafu), 寡婦(かふ) (kafu), 鰥寡孤独(かんかこどく) (kankakodoku)
• (few, minority): 寡占(かせん) (kasen), 寡頭政治(かとうせいじ) (katōseiji), 寡聞(かぶん) (kabun), 寡兵(かへい) (kahei), 寡黙(かもく) (kamoku), 衆寡(しゅうか) (shūka)

From Middle Chinese 寡 (MC kwaeX).

• (Tokyo) か (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

寡(か) • (ka) 

1. minority

   寡(か)を以(も)って衆(しゅう)を制(せい)する

   ka o motte shū o seisuru

   Majority can be conquered by minority.

• 衆(しゅう) (shū, “majority”)

寡 (eumhun 적을 과 (jeogeul gwa))

1. hanja form^? of 과 (“widowed, alone”)

寡: Hán Nôm readings: quả, góa/goá

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