自

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See also: 白, 目, and 且
自 U+81EA, 自
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-81EA
← 臩
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 臫 →
⾃ U+2F83, ⾃
KANGXI RADICAL SELF
← ⾂
 		Kangxi Radicals ⾄ →
㉂ U+3242, ㉂
PARENTHESIZED IDEOGRAPH SELF
← ㉁
 		Enclosed CJK Letters and Months ㉃ →

Translingual

Stroke order
6 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

自 (Kangxi radical 132, 自+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 竹月山 (HBU), four-corner 26000, composition ⿱丿目)

  1. Kangxi radical #132, ⾃.

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 1000, character 7
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30095
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1452, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3046, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+81EA

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 自

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 自
Shang Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Chu slip and silk script Ancient script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (自) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
郋 *ɡiːl
自 *ɦljids
洎 *krids, *ɡrids
臮 *ɡrids
垍 *ɡrids
詯 *qʰʷlɯːls, *ɡʷlɯːls

Originally a pictogram (象形) of a nose; in China (and East Asia) one points at one’s nose to indicate oneself, hence an ideogram (指事) of “self”. Unrelated to 面.

The original meaning of “nose” has been replaced by 鼻.

Pronunciation 1

Note: zí - used in some colloquial terms.
Note:
  • Sixian:
    • chhi/chhit/chhì/chhi̍t - only in 自家;
    • Meixian:
    • ci2 - only in 自家.
Note:
  • cī - vernacular;
  • cu̿ - vernacular (used in 自己);
  • cù - literary.
Note:
  • cê - vernacular;
  • cê̤ṳ - literary.
Note:
  • zr5 - vernacular;
  • zr4 - literary.
  • Dialectal data
Variety Location 自
Mandarin Beijing /t͡sz̩⁵¹/
Harbin /t͡sz̩⁵³/
Tianjin /t͡sz̩⁵³/
Jinan /t͡sz̩⁴²/ ～己
/t͡sz̩²¹/ ～來水
Qingdao /t͡sz̩⁴²/
Zhengzhou /t͡sz̩³¹²/
Xi'an /t͡sz̩⁴⁴/
Xining /t͡sz̩²¹³/
Yinchuan /t͡sz̩¹³/
Lanzhou /t͡sz̩¹³/
Ürümqi /t͡sz̩²¹³/
Wuhan /t͡sz̩³⁵/
Chengdu /t͡sz̩¹³/
Guiyang /t͡sz̩²¹³/
Kunming /t͡sz̩²¹²/
Nanjing /t͡sz̩⁴⁴/
Hefei /t͡sz̩⁵³/
Jin Taiyuan /t͡sz̩⁴⁵/
Pingyao /t͡sz̩³⁵/
Hohhot /t͡sz̩⁵⁵/
Wu Shanghai /zz̩²³/
Suzhou /zz̩³¹/
Hangzhou /zz̩¹³/
Wenzhou /zz̩²²/
Hui Shexian /t͡sʰz̩²²/
Tunxi /t͡sʰz̩¹¹/
/sz̩⁵/
Xiang Changsha /t͡sz̩⁵⁵/
/t͡sz̩¹¹/
Xiangtan /d͡zz̩²¹/
Gan Nanchang /t͡sʰz̩²¹/
Hakka Meixian /t͡sʰz̩⁵³/
Taoyuan /t͡sʰï⁵⁵/
Cantonese Guangzhou /t͡si²²/
Nanning /t͡sz̩²²/
Hong Kong /t͡si²²/
Min Xiamen (Hokkien) /t͡su²²/
Fuzhou (Eastern Min) /t͡sɛi²⁴²/
Jian'ou (Northern Min) /t͡su⁴²/
Shantou (Teochew) /t͡sɯ³¹/
Haikou (Hainanese) /t͡si³³/ ～己
/t͡si³⁵/ ～從
Rime
Character 自
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 從 (15)
Final (韻) 脂 (15)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 疾二切
Baxter dzijH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/d͡ziɪH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/d͡ziH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/d͡zjɪH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/d͡ziH/
Li
Rong 		/d͡ziH/
Wang
Li 		/d͡ziH/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/d͡zʱiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		zì
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		zi6
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 自 自
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		zì zì
Middle
Chinese 		‹ dzijH › ‹ dzijH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*s.i-s/ /*s.i-s/
English self (adv.) to follow; from

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 自
Reading # 1/1
No. 17879
Phonetic
component 		自
Rime
group 		至
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		自
Old
Chinese 		/*ɦljids/

Definitions

自

  1. self, oneself; one's own
    自顧自／自顾自  ―  zìgùzì  ―  each minding his own business; each for himself
  2. certainly, of course
  3. personally
  4. since; from
    借自  ―  jiè zì  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    自左而右  ―  zì zuǒ ér yòu  ―  from left to right
  5. (swimming) Short for 自由泳 (zìyóuyǒng, “freestyle”).

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (自):
  • → Vietnamese: tự (自)

Others:

  • → Vietnamese: từ

References

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

自

  1. Only used in 潮州音樂——自己顧自己／潮州音乐——自己顾自己.

Japanese

Kanji

自

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. self, oneself

Readings

Compounds

Compounds

Korean

Hanja

自 (eumhun 스스로 자 (seuseuro ja))

  1. hanja form? of 자 (“self”)

Compounds

Derived terms

Okinawan

Kanji

自

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Vietnamese

Han character

自: Hán Nôm readings: tự, từ, tợ

  1. chữ Hán form of tự (“self”).

Compounds

Idioms

Zhuang

Proper noun

自

  1. Sawndip form of sw
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