曾

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

When used in Korea or as a Japanese kyūjitai character, the upper component is 八 instead of 丷, which is also the historical form found in the Kangxi dictionary.

Han character

曾 (Kangxi radical 73, 曰+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 金田日 (CWA), four-corner 8060₆, composition ⿱丷𭥴(GHT) or ⿱八𭥴(JKV))

Derived characters

• 僧 噌 增 嶒 憎 㬝 橧 潧 熷 璔 㽪 䁬 矰 磳 竲 繒(缯) 䙢 譄(𬤤) 贈(赠) 蹭 鏳(𲈜) 驓(𫘯) 䰝 鱛 㬟 㣒 甑 䎖 䒏 鄫 朆 䆵 䉕 罾 鬙 層
• 𡡑 𢅋 𢐞 𢴣 𤛢 𤾥 𥢥 𦒗 𦠇 𧯒 𧲅 𨲯 𪒟 𪙭 𥃙 𣯿 𠟂 𢎒 𢨉 𧢐 𧸑 𣍎 𤺧 𡪠 𡼳 𦌝 𦌘 𦌛 𦼏 𤎯 𤎰
• 𭂡 𮔿 𭙇 𬯣 𬛫 𮓆 𭨟 𬁮 𬁭 𭍳

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 503, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14299
• Dae Jaweon: page 877, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1521, character 3
• Unihan data for U+66FE

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 曾
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – a cooker for steaming food. The derivative 甑 (OC *ʔsɯŋs) refers to the original word.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

曾

1. already; ever; once (in the past); previously
2. Alternative form of 層／层 (céng)

Synonyms

• (already):

Compounds

Descendants

• → Vietnamese: từng (“once”)

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

曾

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 曾姓 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 曾氏 (Cantonese)
• 曾姓 (Gan)
• Chan (sèⁿ) (Southern Min)

1. (prefix) great-

   曾孫／曾孙  ―  zēngsūn  ―  great-grandson

2. (literary) unexpectedly

   • 誰謂河廣？曾不容刀。
     誰謂宋遠？曾不崇朝。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     谁谓河广？曾不容刀。
     谁谓宋远？曾不崇朝。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Shéi wèi Hé guǎng? Zēng bù róng dāo.
     Shéi wèi Sòng yuǎn? Zēng bù chóngzhāo.

     Who says that the He is wide?
     It will not admit a little boat.
     Who says that Song is distant?
     It would not take a whole morning to reach it.

3. (literary) Alternative form of 增 (zēng, “to increase”)
4. a surname: Zeng

   曾國藩／曾国藩  ―  Zēng Guófān  ―  Zeng Guofan (Chinese statesman and military general of the Qing dynasty)

Descendants

• → English: Tseng, Zeng, Chan, Tsang

Compounds

References

• “曾”, 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–

Japanese

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 曽)

1. great-

Readings

• Go-on: ぞう (zō)
• Kan-on: そう (sō)
• Kan’yō-on: ぞ (zo); そ (so)
• Kun: かつて (katsute, 曾て); すなわち (sunawachi, 曾ち)
• Nanori: かつ (katsu); つね (tsune)

Korean

Hanja

曾 • (jeung) (hangeul 증, revised jeung, McCune–Reischauer chŭng, Yale cung)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

曾: Hán Việt readings: tằng, tăng
曾: Nôm readings: tâng, tơn, tưng, từng

1. (archaic) chữ Hán form of tằng (“great-”).
2. Nôm form of từng (“once, ever, already, formerly”).

References

• Nom Foundation