雞

Translingual

Han character

雞 (Kangxi radical 172, 隹+10, 18 strokes, cangjie input 月大人土 (BKOG), four-corner 2041₄, composition ⿰奚隹)

Derived characters

• 𤄬, 𤣕, 𭌲, 𧄰

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1369, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 42124
• Dae Jaweon: page 1875, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4105, character 2
• Unihan data for U+96DE

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 雞 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 雞 (搞清楚) (Cantonese)
• 雞 (Classical)
• 雞 (Gan)
• 雞 (Eastern Min)
• 雞 (Southern Min)
• 雞 (Wu)
• Chicken (English)

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *keː) : phonetic 奚 (OC *ɡeː) + semantic 隹 (“short-tailed bird”).

Etymology

Onomatopoeic (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Proto-Vietic *r-kaa (> Vietnamese gà), Proto-Tai *kajᴮ (“chicken”), Proto-Hmong-Mien *Kəi.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• (to fire): From 無情雞／无情鸡 (mou⁴ cing⁴ gai¹, “pink slip”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

雞

1. chicken; fowl (Classifier: 隻／只 m c)

   雞肉／鸡肉  ―  jīròu  ―  chicken meat

   雞蛋／鸡蛋  ―  jīdàn  ―  chicken egg

   • 雞棲于塒、日之夕矣、羊牛下來。……
     雞棲于桀、日之夕矣、羊牛下括。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     鸡栖于埘、日之夕矣、羊牛下来。……
     鸡栖于桀、日之夕矣、羊牛下括。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Jī qī yú shí, rì zhī xī yǐ, yángniú xiàlái.......
     Jī qī yú jié, rì zhī xī yǐ, yángniú xiàguā.

     The fowls roost in their holes in the walls; and in the evening of the day, the goats and cows come down .
     The fowls roost on their perches; and in the evening of the day, the goats and cows come down and home.

2. 10th of the Chinese zodiac animals (rooster)
3. (slang) female prostitute

   Coordinate term: 鴨／鸭 (yā)

   做雞／做鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  zou⁶ gai¹   ―  to be a prostitute

4. (slang) penis
5. (Cantonese, Huicheng dialect) whistle

   吹雞／吹鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  ceoi¹ gai¹   ―  to blow a whistle

   銀雞／银鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  ngan⁴ gai¹   ―  silver whistle

6. (Cantonese, Huicheng dialect, Hokkien) trigger (of a gun)

   摱雞／摱鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  maan¹ gai¹   ―  to pull the trigger

7. (Cantonese) weak; useless
8. (Cantonese, non-productive) Suffix for adjectives describing a weak or useless person.

   弱雞／弱鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  joek⁶ gai¹   ―  weak; wimpy

   揗雞／揗鸡 [Cantonese]  ―  tan⁴ gai¹   ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

9. (Cantonese) to fire; to sack
10. (Cantonese) Alternative form of 笄

Synonyms

• (trigger): 扳機／扳机 (bānjī); (Min Nan) 銃雞／铳鸡, 剾雞／𠛅鸡

Compounds

Descendants

• → Indonesian: ayam (“prostitute”) (semantic loan)
• →? Proto-Tai: *kajᴮ (see there for further descendants)

See also

• (Chinese zodiac signs) 鼠 (shǔ), 牛 (niú), 虎 (hǔ), 兔 (tù), 龍／龙 (lóng), 蛇 (shé), 馬／马 (mǎ), 羊 (yáng), 猴 (hóu), 雞／鸡 (jī), 狗 (gǒu), 豬／猪 (zhū) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese zodiac signs)}

References

• “雞”, 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

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 𨿸)

1. chicken (domesticated fowl)
2. bird

Readings

• Go-on: け (ke)
• Kan-on: けい (kei)
• Kun: にわとり (niwatori, 雞)^{←にはとり (nifatori, にはとり, historical)}; とり (tori, 雞); かけ (kake, 雞)

Compounds

Etymology 1

For the niwatori reading:

Etymology 2

For the tori reading:

Etymology 3

For the kake reading:

References

• Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

Korean

Hanja

雞 (eumhun 닭 계 (dak gye))

1. Hanja form^? of 계 (“chicken”).

Vietnamese

Han character

雞: Nôm readings: gà
雞: Hán Nôm readings: kê

1. chicken

References