性

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 性. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 性, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 性 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 性 you have here. The definition of the word 性 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of性, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
性 U+6027, 性
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6027
← 怦
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 怨 →

Translingual

Stroke order
8 strokes

Han character

性 (Kangxi radical 61, 心+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 心竹手一 (PHQM), four-corner 95010, composition ⿰忄生)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 381, character 24
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10478
  • Dae Jaweon: page 710, character 9
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2286, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+6027

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 性

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (生) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
猜 *sʰlɯː
輤 *sʰleːns
綪 *sʰleːns, *ʔsreːŋ
倩 *sʰleːns, *sʰleŋs
棈 *sʰleːns
蒨 *sʰeːns
篟 *sʰeːns
生 *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs
牲 *sreŋ
笙 *sreŋ
甥 *sreŋ
鉎 *sreŋ, *sleːŋ
珄 *sreŋ
鼪 *sreŋ, *sreŋs
猩 *sreŋ, *seːŋ
狌 *sreŋ
眚 *sreŋʔ
貹 *sreŋs
崝 *zreːŋ
精 *ʔsleŋ, *ʔsleŋs
菁 *ʔsleŋ
鶄 *ʔsleŋ, *sʰleːŋ
蜻 *ʔsleŋ, *sʰleːŋ
鼱 *ʔsleŋ
婧 *ʔsleŋ, *zleŋs, *zleŋʔ
睛 *ʔsleŋ, *sʰleŋʔ
箐 *ʔsleŋ
聙 *ʔsleŋ
旌 *ʔsleŋ
清 *sʰleŋ
圊 *sʰleŋ
請 *sʰleŋʔ, *zleŋs, *zleŋ
凊 *sʰleŋs
䝼 *zleŋs, *zleŋ
靚 *zleŋs
情 *zleŋ
晴 *zleŋ
夝 *zleŋ
靜 *zleŋʔ
靖 *zleŋʔ
睲 *seŋʔ, *seːŋs
惺 *seŋʔ, *seːŋ
性 *sleŋs
姓 *sleŋs
靗 *l̥ʰeŋs
鯖 *ʔljeŋ, *sʰleːŋ
青 *sʰleːŋ
靘 *sʰleːŋ, *sʰleːŋs
掅 *sʰleːŋs
胜 *sleːŋ
曐 *sleːŋ
星 *sleːŋ
鮏 *sleːŋ
腥 *seːŋ, *seːŋs
鯹 *seːŋ
醒 *seːŋ, *seːŋʔ, *seːŋs
篂 *seːŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *sleŋs): semantic 忄 (“heart”) + phonetic 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs) – nature, personal quality, hence of the heart.

Etymology

Derived from 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs, “to live; to be born; innate”).

Pronunciation

Note:
  • sáng - vernacular;
  • séng - literary.
Note:
  • sa4/saⁿ4 - vernacular;
  • sing4 - literary.
Note:
  • sèng - literary;
  • sìⁿ/sèⁿ - vernacular (limited, e.g. 性命).
Note: sin3 - limited, used in 慣性.
Rime
Character 性
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 清 (121)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 息正切
Baxter sjengH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/siᴇŋH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/siɛŋH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/siæŋH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/siajŋH/
Li
Rong 		/siɛŋH/
Wang
Li 		/sĭɛŋH/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/si̯ɛŋH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		xìng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		sing3
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 性
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		xìng
Middle
Chinese 		‹ sjengH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*seŋ-s/
English nature

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 性
Reading # 1/1
No. 11358
Phonetic
component 		生
Rime
group 		耕
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		性
Old
Chinese 		/*sleŋs/

Definitions

性

  1. nature; character; personality
  2. sex; gender
  3. (grammar) gender
  4. sexual intercourse
  5. -ness; -ity (suffix forming nouns and adjectives, denoting qualities)

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (性):
  • → Japanese: 性(せい) (sei); 性(しょう) (shō)
  • → Korean: 성(性) (seong)
  • → Vietnamese: tính (性)

Others:

  • → Tangut: 𗵤 (*sjij¹)

References

Japanese

Kanji

性

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. one's nature
  2. characteristic
  3. sex, gender
  4. content

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
性
しょう
Grade: 5
goon

From Middle Chinese 性 (MC sjengH, “nature of something, inherent quality”).

The goon, so the initial borrowing.

Pronunciation

Noun

性(しょう) • (shō) ←しやう (syau)?

  1. the nature of something

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
性
せい
Grade: 5
kan'on

From Middle Chinese 性 (MC sjengH, “nature of something, inherent quality”).

The kan'on, so a later borrowing.

Pronunciation

Noun

性(せい) • (sei) 

  1. sex, gender
  2. (grammar) gender
Synonyms

Suffix

性(せい) • (-sei) 

  1. -ity, -ness, the nature of quality or something
See also

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
性
さが
Grade: 5
kun'yomi

Probably from Old Japanese, although the ultimate derivation is unknown. Appears in The Tale of Genji and The Tales of Ise of the Heian period.[3]

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

性(さが) • (saga) 

  1. one's nature
  2. characteristic
Synonyms

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
  3. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

Pronunciation

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

性 (eumhun 성품 성 (seongpum seong))

  1. hanja form? of 성 (“nature; character; sex”)
  2. hanja form? of 성 (“-ness; -ity (suffix forming nouns and adjectives, denoting qualities)”)

Vietnamese

Han character

性: Hán Nôm readings: tính, dính, tánh

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