省

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

省 (Kangxi radical 109, 目+4, 9 strokes, cangjie input 火竹月山 (FHBU), four-corner 9060₂, composition ⿱少目)

Derived characters

• 偗, 㗂, 㨘, 渻, 㮐, 𨩠, 㼳, 䚇, 㾪, 箵

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 802, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 23179
• Dae Jaweon: page 1218, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2473, character 1
• Unihan data for U+7701

• Unihan data for U+F96D

Chinese

Glyph origin

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

Originally 眚. In oracle bone script, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sreŋʔ, *sleŋʔ) : phonetic 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs, “sprout”) + 目 (“eye”) – "to inspect plants". In Shuowen Jiezi, 眚 and 省 became separate characters. 生 corrupted over time into 少.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

省

1. to omit; to leave out
2. to reduce, to simplify

   • 船：舟也。从舟，鉛省聲。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     船：舟也。从舟，铅省声。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Shuowen Jiezi, circa 2^nd century CE

     Chuán: zhōu yě. Cóng zhōu, qiān shěng shēng.

     船 (chuán): boat. From 舟 (zhōu), and a reduced form of 鉛／铅 used as the phonetic component.

3. (colloquial, by extension) to have less strange, potentially genius but generally lousy ideas for the sake of others to save worry

   你還是省省吧。 [MSC, trad.]
   你还是省省吧。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ háishì shěng shěng ba.

   You'd better give it up.

4. to save, to economize

   省電／省电  ―  shěngdiàn  ―  to conserve electricity

   省錢／省钱  ―  shěngqián  ―  to save money

5. ^† palace

   • 禁中者，門戶有禁，非侍禦者不得入，故曰禁中。孝元皇后父大司馬陽平侯名禁，當時避之，故曰省中。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     禁中者，门户有禁，非侍御者不得入，故曰禁中。孝元皇后父大司马阳平侯名禁，当时避之，故曰省中。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1^st century, Cai Yong, 《獨斷》

     Jìnzhōng zhě, ménhù yǒu jìn, fēi shìyù zhě bùdé rù, gù yuē jìnzhōng. Xiàoyuán Huánghòu fù dàsīmǎ Yángpíng Hóu míng Jìn, dāngshí bì zhī, gù yuē shěngzhōng.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

6. ^⁜ (historical, by extension) department (of a government)

   中書省／中书省  ―  Zhōngshūshěng  ―  the Central Secretariat

   • 尚書、門下、中書、秘書、殿中、內侍為六省。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     尚书、门下、中书、秘书、殿中、内侍为六省。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Old Book of Tang, 945 CE

     Shàngshū, Ménxià, Zhōngshū, Mìshū, Diànzhōng, Nèishì wéi liù shěng.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   1. ministry of the Japanese government

      文部科學省／文部科学省  ―  wénbù kēxué xǐng  ―  Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

7. province; (originally) Short for 行省 (xíngshěng). (Classifier: 個／个)

   福建省  ―  Fújiàn Shěng  ―  Fujian Province

8. (chiefly Guangdong) Short for 省城 (shěngchéng, “Guangzhou”).

   省港澳  ―  Shěng-Gǎng-Ào  ―  Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau

9. a surname

Synonyms

Usage notes

• Historically used as a suffix for many foreign major administrative divisions (states of the US, etc.), such usage is now generally obsolete (outside of fossilized instances like 麻省 (“Massachusetts”)) and replaced with 州 (zhōu, “state”).

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Bouyei: senj
• → Lü: ᦵᦌᦲᧃ (soen)
• → Zhuang: sengj

See also

• 縣／县 (xiàn, “Japanese prefecture”)
• 州 (zhōu, “state”)

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

省

1. to examine; to inspect
2. to greet; to visit
3. to understand; to comprehend

Compounds

References

• “省”, 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

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. government ministry
2. Chinese province

Readings

• Go-on: しょう (shō, Jōyō)^{←しやう (syau, historical)}
• Kan-on: せい (sei, Jōyō)
• Kun: かえりみる (kaerimiru, 省みる, Jōyō)^{←かへりみる (kaferimiru, 省みる, historical)}; はぶく (habuku, 省く, Jōyō); みる (miru, 省る)
• Nanori: さとし (satoshi)

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 省 (MC srjaengX|sjengX).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しょ​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

省

Wikipedia ^ja

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

省 (行政区画)

Wikipedia ^ja

省(しょう) • (shō) ^{←しやう (syau)?}

1. ministry, government department, office

   法務省(ほうむしょう)

   hōmu shō

   Ministry of Justice

2. Chinese province

   広東省(カントンしょう)

   kanton shō

   Guangdong Province

Prefix

省(しょう) • (shō-) ^{←しやう (syau)?}

1. -saving, conservation

   省(しょう)エネルギー ― shōenerugī ― energy conservation, energy efficiency

   省(しょう)時(じ)間(かん) ― shōjikan ― time conservation, time efficiency

Suffix

省(しょう) • (-shō) ^{←しやう (syau)?}

1. ministry

References

Korean

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 省 (MC sjengX).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

省

Wikisource

省 (eumhun 살필 성 (salpil seong))

1. Hanja form^? of 성 (“to examine; to inspect”).
2. Hanja form^? of 성 (“Chinese province”).
3. Hanja form^? of 성 (“ministry; department”).

Compounds

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 省 (MC srjaengX).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): ~
• Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

省 (eumhun 덜 생 (deol saeng))

1. Hanja form^? of 생 (“to reduce; to omit”).
2. Hanja form^? of 생 (“saving; conservation”).

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

省: Hán Nôm readings: tỉnh, xển, xỉnh, xĩnh, tểnh, tễnh

1. chữ Hán form of tỉnh (“province; prefecture”).