曹

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 曹. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 曹, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 曹 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 曹 you have here. The definition of the word 曹 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of曹, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: 曺
曹 U+66F9, 曹
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-66F9
← 書
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 曺 →

Translingual

Han character

曹 (Kangxi radical 73, 曰+7, 11 strokes, cangjie input 廿田日 (TWA), four-corner 55606, composition ⿱⿻一曲曰)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 502, character 13
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14297
  • Dae Jaweon: page 876, character 3
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1511, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+66F9

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 曹
alternative forms 曺
㯥
𣍘

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 曹
Shang Western Zhou Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (曹) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
遭 *ʔsluː
糟 *ʔsluː
醩 *ʔsluːu
傮 *ʔsluː
槽 *ʔsluː, *zluː
曹 *zluː
螬 *zluː
漕 *zluː, *zluːs
嘈 *zluː
艚 *zluː
褿 *zluː
蓸 *zluː
慒 *lju, *zluːŋ

Originally 㯥 (cáo), an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : two bundles 東 on top. The original meaning is "pair; peer, same kind". Later, 囗 was added as a distinguishing mark, which corrupted into 甘 in bronze inscriptions and 曰 in Seal Script, thus getting the intermediate and semi-archaic version 𣍘. The top two 東 have merged and now resemble 曲 with an extra stroke.

Unrelated to 曲 and 典.

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 曹
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 從 (15)
Final (韻) 豪 (89)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 昨勞切
Baxter dzaw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/d͡zɑu/
Pan
Wuyun 		/d͡zɑu/
Shao
Rongfen 		/d͡zɑu/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/d͡zaw/
Li
Rong 		/d͡zɑu/
Wang
Li 		/d͡zɑu/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/d͡zʱɑu/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		cáo
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		cou4
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 曹
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		cáo
Middle
Chinese 		‹ dzaw ›
Old
Chinese 		/*N-tsˁu/
English come together; pair

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 曹
Reading # 1/1
No. 1154
Phonetic
component 		曹
Rime
group 		幽
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		曹
Old
Chinese 		/*zluː/
Notes 金文下非曰字，
上從二東，象列置衆種子之器，
乃槽初文

Definitions

曹

  1. † plaintiff and defendant
  2. † division department of the central government in ancient times
  3. † official
  4. † group
  5. (literary) people of the same kind
    爾曹／尔曹  ―  ěrcáo  ―  you all
  6. (historical) Cao, a vassal state in China during the Zhou Dynasty (1046–221 BCE), covering roughly the area of modern-day Dingtao County in Heze, southwestern Shandong province
  7. a surname
    曹操  ―  Cáo Cāo  ―  Cao Cao

Compounds

References

Japanese

Kanji

曹

(Jōyō kanji)

  1. cadet
  2. friend

Readings

Compounds

Korean

Hanja

曹 (eum 조 (jo))

  1. Alternative form of 曺

Compounds

Vietnamese

Han character

曹: Hán Nôm readings: Tào

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