者

者 U+FA5B, 者 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-FA5B ← 署 CJK Compatibility Ideographs 臭 →

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者

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• In Korean hanja and occasionally in Japanese, an additional 丶 stroke is written at the bottom right corner of 耂 above 日, which is the historical form found in the Kangxi dictionary. In other regions, the additional 丶 stroke has been omitted.
• Three CJK compatibility ideographs exist for this character:
  • U+FAB2: Alternative form used in North Korea without additional 丶 stroke below 耂.
  • U+FA5B: Japanese kyūjitai with additional 丶 stroke below 耂.
  • U+2F97A: Variant traditional form used in Taiwan with additional 丶 stroke below 耂.

Han character

者 (Kangxi radical 125, 老+4, 8 strokes in Chinese and Japanese, 9 strokes in Korean, cangjie input 十大日 (JKA), four-corner 4460₀, composition ⿱耂日(GHTJV or U+FAB2) or ⿱⿸耂丶日(K or U+FA5B or U+2F97A))

Derived characters

• 偖, 啫, 堵, 媎, 帾, 㥩, 㨋, 渚, 𨔾, 陼, 暏, 楮, 𤌄, 琽, 禇, 䐗, 睹, 褚, 𣗓, 緖/緒(绪), 𦩳, 蝫, 觰, 諸(诸), 豬(猪), 賭(赌), 赭, 踷, 醏, 鍺(锗), 𤂩, 鯺, 𪃲, 䵭
• 𪜕, 𠁂, 都, 𣂃, 斱, 殾, 覩, 䰩, 𪃙
• 䎞, 乽, 煑, 煮, 㗯, 翥, 䡤, 䬡, 䘄
• 奢, 屠, 著, 暑, 㸙, 瘏, 署, 箸, 闍(阇), 䰇
• 䰞

Descendants

• 𛂥, 𛂦 (𛂥, 𛂦) (Japanese hentaigana)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 961, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 28852
• Dae Jaweon: page 1409, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2780, character 5
• Unihan data for U+8005

• Unihan data for U+FA5B

• Unihan data for U+FAB2

• Unihan data for U+2F97A

Further reading

• 者 on Wikidata.Wikidata

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 者
Shang	Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)	Libian (compiled in Qing)
Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts	Clerical script

Pictogram (象形) – a sugarcane with full leaves and stems, with a mouth under, the original character for either 煮 (OC *tjaʔ, “to boil”) or 蔗 (OC *tjaːɡs, “sugarcane”). Phonetically loaned for abstract meanings.

Top component 耂 is unrelated to 老 and 考.

The variant form with an additional 丶 stroke below 耂 is influenced by Shuowen, which considered 白 as the bottom component of 者.

Etymology

one who, -er, nominalizing suffix

Etymologically related to 之 (OC *tjɯ, “nominalizing, possessive particle”) and perhaps colloquial 的 (Pulleyblank, 1995).

Pronunciation

Definitions

者

1. (Classical) Used at the end of a command.

   • 秦惠王車裂商君以徇，曰：「莫如商鞅反者!」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     秦惠王车裂商君以徇，曰：「莫如商鞅反者!」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Qín Huì wáng chēliè Shāng jūn yǐ xùn, yuē: “Mò rú Shāngyāng fǎn zhě!”

     King Hui of Qin drew and quartered Lord Shang as a warning, saying "No one shall rebel like Shang Yang!"

2. (Classical) Topicalizer used after a term, to mark a pause before defining the term.

   • 君者，舟也。庶人者，水也。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Xunzi, c. 3^rd century BCE

     Jūn zhě, zhōu yě. Shùrén zhě, shuǐ yě.

     A ruler is like a boat and common people are like water.

3. (literary or regional) this
4. (agent suffix) -er; -ist; one who ...; person involved in; the things which ...

   記者／记者  ―  jìzhě  ―  journalist

   工作者  ―  gōngzuòzhě  ―  worker

   我父親總是說天助自助者。 [MSC, trad.]
   我父亲总是说天助自助者。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ fùqīn zǒngshì shuō tiān zhù zì zhù zhě.

   My father always said that heaven helps those who help themselves.

   • 宋人有耕田者。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Han Feizi, circa 2^nd century BCE

     Sòng rén yǒu gēng tián zhě.

     Among the citizens of the State of Song, there was one who was ploughing his field.

5. Used after a number, "before" 前 (qián), or "after" 後／后 (hòu) to refer to something mentioned previously.

   前者  ―  qiánzhě  ―  the former

   後者／后者  ―  hòuzhě  ―  the latter

   如下三者任擇其一。 [MSC, trad.]
   如下三者任择其一。 [MSC, simp.]

   Rúxià sān zhě rèn zé qí yī.

   There are three alternatives.

6. a surname: Zhe

Compounds

Descendants

References

• “者”, 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–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03253

Japanese

Shinjitai	者
Kyūjitai	者 者 or 者+︀?
	者󠄁 者+󠄁? (Adobe-Japan1)
	者󠄃 者+󠄃? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 者)

Readings

• Go-on: しゃ (sha, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: しゃ (sha, Jōyō)
• Kun: もの (mono, 者, Jōyō)
• Nanori: ひさ (hisa); ひと (hito)

Etymology 1

⟨mo₂no₂⟩ → /mono/

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720. Theorized to derive from Proto-Japonic *mənə.

Cognate with 物 (mono, “thing”, physical as opposed to abstract).

In ancient texts marked with pronunciation information, this character was always read as hito until around the late 800s, at which point the mono reading becomes prevalent. The mono reading has historically often been used with mild pejorative overtones, as compared to the more neutral term 人 (hito). This may suggest a broadening of the original “thing” sense for mono, which then was applied as a pejorative for a “person”.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) もの​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

者(もの) • (mono) 

1. person

   Synonym: 人 (hito)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 者 (MC tsyaeX).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Suffix

者(しゃ) • (-sha) 

1. someone of that type, someone who does that

   Synonym: (often not interchangeable) 人 (-jin)

Derived terms

See also

• 家(や) (-ya)
• 手(しゅ) (-shu)
• Japanese terms suffixed with 者

References

Korean

Hanja

者 (eumhun 놈 자 (nom ja))

1. Hanja form^? of 자 (“person”).

Vietnamese

Han character

者: Hán Việt readings: giả
者: Nôm readings: trả, giả, giã, giở, rả, dở, dã

1. chữ Hán form of giả (“-er; -ist; one who...”).

References