齋

齋 (Kangxi radical 210, 齊+3, 17 strokes, cangjie input 卜難火 (YXF), four-corner 0022₃, composition ⿵齊小)

• 𡄡, 𢥖, 𢹓, 𭳯, 𮥱, 𤒱, 𮂧, 𧕚, 𩵃, 𪗒, 𪗓, 𢋿

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1531, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 48565
• Dae Jaweon: page 2069, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4785, character 3
• Unihan data for U+9F4B

Historical forms of the character 齋
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ʔsriːl) : phonetic 齊 (OC *zliːl, *zliːls) + semantic 示 (“god; deity”).

齋

1. (historical) to show one's piety before offering sacrifices and other ceremonies in ancient times, by abstaining from meat and alcohol, bathing oneself and clearing one's mind of distracting thoughts
2. ^† solemn; earnest
3. vegetarian diet (often adopted for religious reasons)

   吃齋／吃斋  ―  chīzhāi  ―  to be a vegetarian

4. fasting

   齋月／斋月  ―  zhāiyuè  ―  Ramadan

5. (Buddhism, Taoism) religious ceremony (Classifier: 堂 c)
6. (Cantonese) plain; dull; boring; dry

   齋啡／斋啡 [Cantonese]  ―  zaai¹ fe¹   ―  black coffee

   早餐淨係食塊麵包會唔會齋咗啲呢？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   早餐净系食块面包会唔会斋咗啲呢？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   zou² caan¹ zing⁶ hai⁶ sik⁶ faai³ min⁶ baau¹ wui⁵ m⁴ wui⁵ zaai¹ zo² di¹ ne¹?

   Wouldn't it be a bit dull to just have a piece of bread for breakfast?

7. (Cantonese) purely; only; just

   Synonym: 淨 / 净 (jìng)

   齋噏／斋噏 [Cantonese]  ―  zaai¹ ngap¹   ―  to just talk

   齋睇唔買／斋睇唔买 [Cantonese]  ―  zaai¹ tai² m⁴ maai⁵   ―  to just browse around and not buy anything; to window-shop

8. to give alms to monks
9. study (room); studio
10. house; shop; building
11. a surname

• (vegetarian diet): 素食 (sùshí)

• (antonym(s) of “non-vegetarian”): 葷／荤 (hūn)

• → Thai: เจ (jee)
• → Vietnamese: chay

(Hyōgai kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 斎)

1. Kyūjitai form of 斎

• Kan-on: さい (sai)
• On: し (shi)
• Kun: いつく (itsuku, 齋く)、とき (toki, 齋)、いわい (iwai, 齋い)^{←いはひ (ifafi, 齋ひ, historical)}、ものいみ (monoimi, 齋)、つつしむ (tsutsushimu, 齋む)

齋 (eumhun 엄숙할 재 (eomsukhal jae))
齋 (eumhun 집 재 (jip jae))
齋 (eumhun 상복 재 (sangbok jae))
齋 (eumhun 재계할 재 (jaegyehal jae))
齋 (eumhun 공부방 재 (gongbubang jae))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

齋: Hán Việt readings: trai (莊(trang)皆(giai)切(thiết))^{[1][2][3][4][5]}, chay^[4]
齋: Nôm readings: chay^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}, trai^{[2][7][4][5][6]}, chai^[1], rai^[1], chây^[3], trơi^[7]

1. chữ Hán form of trai (“to abstain; to fast”).
2. Nôm form of chay (“to abstain; to fast”).