亞

亞 (Kangxi radical 7, 二+6, 8 strokes, cangjie input 一中中一 (MLLM), four-corner 1010₇, composition ⿴二⿰⿳丨一𠃑⿳𠃑一丨)

1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №506

• 俹, 啞, 埡, 婭, 孲, 𡹄, 𢛟, 掗, 𣵾, 椏, 𤦩, 𦜖, 𥏝, 䃁, 稏, 𥺼, 𦩒, 𠼞, 䛩, 𨁶, 錏, 𩜄, 𩤃, 𩩤, 𩸋, 䢝, 𩗽
• 㝞, 𦲕, 𥦳, 𠨣, 壼, 𥮳, 𠁏, 𠆊, 𠁕, 𩭯, 𢑹, 𡱻, 𢩔, 瘂, 氬, 堊, 𡹅, 惡, 𣇩, 𤊗, 琧, 𤲢, 蝁, 𣉩, 𩸖, 𠁐, 閸, 𡈀, 𬘃
• 𠜲, 𣂪, 㰳, 𫡷, 𤲾, 𩓩, 𬪿, 𩸇, 鵶, 𣛽, 𥉢, 𧓥, 𠠇, 斵, 𧢗, 𣤼

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 87, character 13
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 274
• Dae Jaweon: page 183, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 23, character 2
• Unihan data for U+4E9E

Historical forms of the character 亞
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script j29651 j29652 j29653 j29654 j29655 j29656 j29657 j29658 j29659 j29660 j29661 j29662 j29663 j29664 j29665 j29666 j29667 j29668 j29669 j29670 j29671 j29672 j29673 j29674 j29675 j29676 j29677 j29678 j29679 j29680 j29681 j29682 j29683 j29684 j29685 j29686 j29687 j29688 j29689 j29690 j29691 j29692 j29693 j29694 j29695 j29696 j29697 j29698 j29699 j29700 j29701 j29702 j29703 j29704 j29705 j29706 j29707 j29708 j29709 j29710 j29711 j29712 j29713 j29714 j29715 j29716 j29717 j29718 j29719 j29720 j29721 j29722 j29723 j29724 j29725 j29726 j29727 j29728 j29729 j29730 j29731 Bronze inscriptions b19832 b19833 b19834 b19835 b19836 b19837 b19838 b19839 b19840 b19841 b19842 b19843 b19844 b19845 b19846 b19847 b19848 b19849 b19850 b19851 b19852 b19853 b19854 Small seal script s10917 Transcribed ancient scripts L36894 L23820 L23821 L23822 L23823 L23824 L23825 L23826 L23827
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).

Pictogram (象形) : an overhead view of a construction, likely a 亞-shaped tomb. Perhaps borrowed phonetically to mean "second; inferior".

Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔrak (“inferior; dependent”), whence Tibetan རག (rag, “to depend on; subject; subservient; dependent”) (Bodman, 1980; Coblin, 1986).

Karlgren (1957) connects it to 惡 (OC *qaːɡ, “evil”), but Schuessler (2007) considers this to be unlikely due to the semantics.

The shangsheng pronunciation in Mandarin (yǎ) is a result of influence from the pronunciation of 啞／哑 (yǎ), whose written form contains 亞 as a component (Fu, 1958).

亞

1. ^† a house (four walls & windows, seen from above)
2. second; inferior

   亞軍／亚军  ―  yàjūn  ―  second place

   不亞於／不亚于  ―  bù yàyú  ―  not inferior to

3. ^† Alternative form of 婭／娅
4. a surname

亞

1. Used in transcription.

   亞美尼亞／亚美尼亚  ―  Yàměiníyà  ―  Armenia

   哥倫比亞／哥伦比亚  ―  Gēlúnbǐyà  ―  Colombia

   薩摩亞／萨摩亚  ―  Sàmóyà  ―  Samoa

   亞格拉／亚格拉  ―  Yàgélā  ―  Agra

   亞琛／亚琛  ―  Yàchēn  ―  Aachen

   亞眠／亚眠  ―  Yàmián  ―  Amiens

   亞當／亚当  ―  Yàdāng  ―  Adam

   亞氏保加症／亚氏保加症  ―  Yàshìbǎojiāzhèng  ―  Asperger syndrome

   1. (～洲) Short for 亞細亞／亚细亚 (Yàxìyà, “Asia”).

      東亞／东亚  ―  Dōngyà  ―  East Asia

      亞裔／亚裔  ―  yàyì  ―  Asian (ethnicity)

      亞太地區／亚太地区  ―  Yàtài dìqū  ―  Asia-Pacific

亞

1. (chiefly dialectal) Alternative form of 阿 (“kinship prefix”)

亞

1. (Nanning Pinghua) this

   亞件衫／亚件衫 [Nanning Pinghua]  ―  aa³ gyun⁶ saam¹ [Jyutping++]  ―  this shirt

• “亞”, 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–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00057

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 亜)

1. rank
2. follow
3. sub- prefix

• Go-on: え (e)
• Kan-on: あ (a)、あつ (atsu)、おう (ō)
• Kun: つぎ (tsugi, 亞ぎ)、つぐ (tsugu, 亞ぐ)

• 旧字体 (kyūjitai) old form character
• Also used phonetically for あ (a)

From Middle Chinese 亞 (MC 'aeH).

• (phonetic element in transliterations):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
  • Phonetic hangul:
• (second; sub-; ranking next; etc.):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
  • Phonetic hangul:
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

亞

Wikisource

亞 (eumhun 버금 아 (beogeum a))

1. hanja form^? of 아 (“second; sub-”)
2. hanja form^? of 아 (“ranking next; coming after”)
3. hanja form^? of 아 (“Asia (abbreviation)”)
4. hanja form^? of 아 (“used as a prefix to names”)

亞 • (A) (hangeul 아)

1. (in headlines) Short for 亞細亞아세아 (Asea, “Asia”).

A common convention in news headlines, this is almost always written solely in the Hanja form, even in contemporary Korean text otherwise devoid of any Hanja.

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

亞: Hán Nôm readings: á, a

1. Asia
2. Asiatic

• Nom Foundation
• Chunom.org