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See also: and 𠄏
U+4E86, 了
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E86

CJK Unified Ideographs
U+F9BA, 了
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9BA

CJK Compatibility Ideographs

Translingual

Stroke order
2 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

(Kangxi radical 6, +1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 弓弓 (NN), four-corner 17207, composition or )

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 85, character 11
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 226
  • Dae Jaweon: page 173, character 20
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 48, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+4E86

Chinese

trad. /*
simp.
瞭 – sense “clear”

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script


References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and
  • Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

According to the Shuowen Jiezi, a pictogram (象形) of a baby without arms. Compare with , where the arms are visible. The Shuowen defines as "the crossing of lower legs".

In the Shuowen Jiezi Zhu, a commentary to the Shouwen Jiezi, it is said that the pictogram instead depicts entangled legs (了戾).

Its relation with the meaning "to finish" is likely via sound loan, but an argument can be made about "entangled legs" → "tie"→ "finish".

Unrelated to .

Etymology 1

Verb “to finish; to be completed” > perfective aspect particle (了₁, weakened form) > change-of-state modal particle (了₂). It eventually replaced classical (OC *ɢlɯʔ).

Two kinds of particle uses of can be distinguished: the perfective aspect particle after verbs (conventionally written as 了₁) and the sentence-final modal particle (了₂). It is generally accepted (Wu, 1998) that these two uses of are derived from the concrete verb “to finish”. The grammaticalisation of this verb had become common in the Tang Dynasty, initially in the form of ‹verb + (object) + perfective › to indicate the completion of an action.

The perfective particle subsequently underwent further grammaticalisation to become the sentence-final change-of-state modal particle; Liu (1985) has demonstrated that this last step may have involved the coalescence of sentence-final with in certain Mandarin dialects, as the pronunciations of 了₁ and 了₂ are distinct in these dialects, with 了₂ rhyming with .

Contrary to the suggestion in Schuessler (2007), this word is not related to Vietnamese rồi, due to the non-existent correspondence between any given phonemes. Thai แล้ว (lɛ́ɛo, to be finished; already; then, afterwards), Lao ແລ້ວ (lǣu, to finish; to be completed; perfective particle) are loans from Chinese.

Pronunciation 1


Note: liǎo - in poetry, songs or Malaysian Mandarin.
Definitions

  1. Used after a verb to indicate perfective aspect (action completion).
    蘋果 [MSC, trad.]
    苹果 [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ chī le yī ge píngguǒ.
    I ate an apple. / I have eaten an apple.
  2. Used at the end of a sentence to indicate a change of state.
    大學生大学生  ―  Tā shì dàxuéshēng le.  ―  He has become a college student / He is a college student now.
  3. Used at the end of a sentence to inform the beginning of an action.
      ―  Wǒ zǒu le.  ―  I'm leaving now.
  4. (contemporary Shanghainese) Used to indicate the present tense.
Synonyms
Usage notes
  • (perfective aspect particle): Most of the time, is translated by a past tense. But it can also indicate that one action is completed before another.
    以後 [MSC, trad.]
    以后 [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ chī le yǐhòu jiào wǒ.
    Call me when you are done eating.
  • (change of state particle): When used as the change of state particle, can be translated by “now”, “already” or “not anymore”.
    中文中文  ―  Wǒ huì shuō zhōngwén le.  ―  I can speak Chinese now. (I couldn't before.)
    喝醉  ―  Wǒ hēzuì le.  ―  I'm drunk.
    沒有没有  ―  Méiyǒu zhǐ le.  ―  There's no paper anymore.
  • In a question, is put before the particle (ma).
  • (Northern Wu): In Shanghainese, this term is primarily used to indicate the present tense and secondarily the perfective aspect. The present tense sense is derived from Old Shanghainese . For the usage difference between other perfectives, see 脫了#Usage notes.
  • (Malaysian Mandarin, Singaporean Mandarin): (le) is often colloquially pronounced as (liǎo) in all instances.
    打掃煮飯 [Malaysian Mandarin, trad.]
    打扫煮饭 [Malaysian Mandarin, simp.]
    Nǐ dǎsǎo liǎo zài bāng wǒ zhǔfàn.
    Help me cook after you're done cleaning up.
Descendants
  • English: already, liao (Singapore English) (semantic loan)
Compounds

Pronunciation 2



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (37)
Final () (93)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () IV
Fanqie
Baxter lewX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/leuX/
Pan
Wuyun
/leuX/
Shao
Rongfen
/leuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/lɛwX/
Li
Rong
/leuX/
Wang
Li
/lieuX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/lieuX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
liǎo
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
liu5
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 8067
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
2
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*reːwʔ/
Definitions

  1. to be finished; to be completed
  2. to end; to finish
    終於心事 [MSC, trad.]
    终于心事 [MSC, simp.]
    zhōngyú liǎo le yī zhuāng xīnshì
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    快啲 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]
    faai3 di1 liu5 zo2 gin6 si6 keoi5 syun3
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  3. to understand; to comprehend
      ―  liǎojiě  ―  to understand; to realize
  4. clear; plain; understandable
  5. bright; intelligent; smart
  6. (in negative sentences) completely; utterly; entirely
  7. Used with () or (de) after verbs to express possibility.
  8. (Hokkien) to use up; to lose; to waste; to squander
Synonyms
Compounds

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of – see (“ancient offering involving burning wood; etc.”).
(This character is the second-round simplified form of ).
Notes:

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of – see .
(This character is the second-round simplified form of ).
Notes:

Japanese

Kanji

(Jōyō kanji)

  1. to end

Readings

Compounds

Noun

(りょう) (ryō

  1. end
  2. (art works): concluded

Proper noun

(さとる) (Satoru

  1. a male given name

Korean

Hanja

(eumhun 마칠 (machil ryo), word-initial (South Korea) 마칠 (machil yo))

  1. hanja form? of / (finish, complete)

Vietnamese

Han character

: Hán Việt readings: liễu (()(điểu)(thiết))[1][2][3], kiết[3]
: Nôm readings: lểu[1][2][4][5], lẽo[1][2][3], liễu[1][2][5], lẻo[1][2], léo[1][4], líu[1][4], lếu[3][4], sáu[1], lèo[1], tréo[2]

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

References