伊

Stroke order

伊 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+4, 6 strokes, cangjie input 人尸大 (OSK), four-corner 2725₇, composition ⿰亻尹)

• 咿 洢 蛜
• 𡜬 𢙬 𤝳 𪑁 𦭽 𢙠 𧊰
• 鿘 鿙 𮡖 𮡶 鿚

• イ
• 𛀇

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 95, character 15
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 432
• Dae Jaweon: page 202, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 126, character 9
• Unihan data for U+4F0A

Historical forms of the character 伊
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 j18844 j18845 j18846 j18847 j18848 j18849 j18850 j18851 j18852 j18853 j18854 j18855 j18856 j18857 j18858 j18859 j18860 j18861 j18862 j18863 j18864 j18865 j18866 j18867 j18868 j18869 j18870 j18871 j18872 j18873 Bronze inscriptions b12254 b12255 b12256 Small seal script s05675 Transcribed ancient scripts L30330 L30331 L30332 L30333 L01990 L01991 L01992 L01993 L01994 L01995 L01996 L01997
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).

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qlil) : semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 尹 (OC *ɢʷlinʔ).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(h)i ~ *(h)aj (“this; here”). Cognate with Burmese ဤ (i, “this”).

伊

1. (literary) this; that

   • 所謂伊人，在水一方 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     所谓伊人，在水一方 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     suǒwèi yī rén, zài shuǐ yī fāng

     That man of whom I think, is somewhere about the water.

2. (literary, formal or Coastal Min) he, him; she, her; it

   我無共伊講。 [Hokkien, trad.]
   我无共伊讲。 [Hokkien, simp.]

   Góa bô kā i kóng. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   I didn't tell him.

   伊名什乇？ [Eastern Min, trad. and simp.]

   Ĭ miàng sié-nó̤h? / [Bàng-uâ-cê / IPA]

   What's his/her name?

   • 江家我顧伊，庾家伊顧我。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     江家我顾伊，庾家伊顾我。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: Liu Yiqing (editor), A New Account of the Tales of the World, 5^th century CE

     Jiāng jiā wǒ gù yī, Yǔ jiā yī gù wǒ.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 伊伏在地上；車夫便也立住腳。 [MSC, trad.]
     伊伏在地上；车夫便也立住脚。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1919 December 1, 魯迅 (Lu Xun), 《一件小事》

     Yī fú zài dìshàng; chēfū biàn yě lì zhù jiǎo.

     She laid prostrate on the ground; the coachman also had halted.

   • ，伊於混亂中摸到地上之啞鈴，即持啞鈴砸被害人頭部後，捆綁被害人，待強盜完畢後，抽煙思索如何處理被害人，約三十分鐘，因認被害人有看見伊，始決定不留活口（決定殺死被害人）， [Taiwanese Mandarin, trad.]
     ，伊于混乱中摸到地上之哑铃，即持哑铃砸被害人头部后，捆绑被害人，待强盗完毕后，抽烟思索如何处理被害人，约三十分钟，因认被害人有看见伊，始决定不留活口（决定杀死被害人）， [Taiwanese Mandarin, simp.]

     From: 2004 August 19, 最高法院93年度台上字第4326號刑事判決

     , yī yú hùnluàn zhōng mō dào dìshàng zhī yǎlíng, jí chí yǎlíng zá bèihàirén tóubù hòu, kǔnbǎng bèihàirén, dài qiángdào wánbì hòu, chōuyān sīsuǒ rúhé chùlǐ bèihàirén, yuē sānshí fēnzhōng, yīn rèn bèihàirén yǒu kànjiàn yī, shǐ juédìng bù liú huókǒu (juédìng shāsǐ bèihàirén),

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. (literary) you (singular)
4. (～水, ～河) Yi River (a tributary of the Luo River in Henan, China)
5. a surname
6. Short for 伊拉克 (Yīlākè, “Iraq”).
7. Short for 伊朗 (Yīlǎng, “Iran”).

From 1870–1930, it was proposed that this character be used as an exclusively female third-person pronoun (cf. 她 (tā, “she”)). This usage is now obsolete.

男人意思是(he)他，乃是屬陽類的；女人意思是(she)伊，乃屬陰類的。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
男人意思是(he)他，乃是属阳类的；女人意思是(she)伊，乃属阴类的。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]

From: 1878, 郭贊生 , trans., 《文法初階》 , page 64

Nánrén yìsī shì (he) tā, nǎishì shǔ yáng lèi de; nǚrén yìsī shì (she) yī, nǎi shǔ yīn lèi de.

Man means he, and is of the masculine gender; woman means she, and is of the feminine gender.

From 渠 (MC gjo, “he; she; it”).

In Southern Sixian Hakka: /ki/ → /i/.

In Wu (You, 1995): /ɡ-/ → /dʑ-/ → /ɦ-/ ( → /ʔ-/).

伊

1. (Southern Sixian Hakka, Wu) he, him; she, her; it

   儂來尋我兒子，伊正好勿辣海，對勿起。 [Shanghainese, trad.]
   侬来寻我儿子，伊正好勿辣海，对勿起。 [Shanghainese, simp.]

   ⁶non ⁶le ⁶zhin ⁶ngu ⁶gni-tsy ⁶yi ⁵tsen-hau ⁸veq-laq-he ⁵te-veq-chi [Wugniu]

   You came to see my son, but he happens to not be here right now, sorry.