賊

Translingual

Han character

賊 (Kangxi radical 154, 貝+6, 13 strokes, cangjie input 月金戈十 (BCIJ), four-corner 6385₀, composition ⿰貝戎)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1208, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 36759
• Dae Jaweon: page 1672, character 10
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3637, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8CCA

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 賊
Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *zɯːɡ) : phonetic 則 (OC *ʔsɯːɡ) + semantic 戈 (“weapon”).

This was later reinterpreted as a compound of 貝 (“money”) and 戎 (“weapon”) to produce the modern form.

Etymology 1

Possibly Sino-Tibetan; compare Tibetan ཇག (jag, “robbery”) (Coblin, 1986). Schuessler (2007) points out that a palatalized consonant in Tibetan does not usually correspond to an unpalatalized one in Chinese; instead, he compares it to Khmer ឆក់ (chɑk, “to snatch; to steal”).

Possibly cognate with 災 (OC *ʔslɯː, “natural disaster”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Based on evidence from early loans from Chinese, e.g. Lakkia kjak⁸ (“bandit”) and Rục kəcʌ́ːk (“bandit”), Baxter and Sagart (2014) reconstructs the Old Chinese with a *k preinitial.

Pronunciation

Definitions

賊

1. ^† to damage; to corrupt; to ruin; to destroy
2. ^† to harm; to injure
3. ^† to slander
4. ^† to murder

   • 宣子驟諫，公患之，使鉏麑賊之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宣子骤谏，公患之，使𬬺麑贼之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Xuānzǐ zhòu jiàn, Gōng huàn zhī, shǐ Chú Ní zéi zhī.

     Lord Xuan remonstrated with the Duke again and again. The Duke, troubled by his behaviour, sent Chu (or "Zhu") Ni to murder him.

5. ^† murderer
6. ^† harm; disaster
7. thief; bandit; robber (Classifier: 個／个 m c)

   琴日有賊入咗屋，偷走咗我部電腦。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   琴日有贼入咗屋，偷走咗我部电脑。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   kam⁴ jat⁶ jau⁵ caak^6-2 jap⁶ zo² uk¹, tau¹ zau² zo² ngo⁵ bou⁶ din⁶ nou⁵.

   Yesterday, a thief came into my house and stole my computer.

8. villain; traitor
9. ^† to steal
10. evil; wicked; treacherous
11. ^† to restrain
12. ^† ruthless; vicious
13. (colloquial, dialectal) cunning; wily; sly
14. ^† a kind of pest that eats the joints of a seedling

    蟊賊／蟊贼  ―  máozéi  ―  insects that eat the roots and the joints

Usage notes

• Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian (《现代汉语规范词典》) proscribes the use of the pronunciation zé.

Synonyms

Descendants

Others:

• → Proto-Southwestern Tai: *sɤkᴰ
  • Thai: ศึก (sʉ̀k, “war, battle”)
• → Vietnamese: giặc
• →? Proto-Turkic: *yagï (war, bandit) (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Etymology 2

Clipping of 賊拉／贼拉 (zéilā), borrowed from Korean 第一 (jeil, “first; most, -est”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

賊

1. (formerly dialectal, including Northeastern Mandarin, increasingly informal) very; particularly; immensely; extremely

   賊好看／贼好看  ―  zéi hǎokàn  ―  remarkably beautiful

Synonyms

Compounds

Japanese

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

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: ぞく (zoku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: そく (soku)
• Kun: あだ (ada, 賊); そこなう (sokonau, 賊なう)^{←そこなふ (sokonafu, 賊なふ, historical)}; にしもの (nishimono, 賊); ぬすむ (nusumu, 賊む)

Compounds

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 賊 (MC dzok).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぞく (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

賊(ぞく) • (zoku) 

1. thief
2. rebel

Derived terms

• 長髪賊(ちょうはつぞく) (chōhatsuzoku, “Taiping rebels”)

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 賊 (MC dzok). Recorded as Middle Korean 적〮 (cék) (Yale: cek) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

賊

Wikisource

賊 (eumhun 도둑 적 (doduk jeok))

1. Hanja form^? of 적 (“thief”).

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

賊: Hán Nôm readings: tặc, giặc

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