偶

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See also: 耦
偶 U+5076, 偶
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5076
← 偵
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 偷 →

Translingual

Han character

偶 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 人田中月 (OWLB), four-corner 26227, composition ⿰亻禺)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 112, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 899
  • Dae Jaweon: page 238, character 9
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 190, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+5076

Chinese

trad. 偶
simp. # 偶
alternative forms 禺
耦

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 偶
s05899
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).
Characters in the same phonetic series (禺) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
齵 *ŋoː, *ŋo
偶 *ŋoːʔ, *ŋoːs
耦 *ŋoːʔ
藕 *ŋoːʔ
髃 *ŋoːʔ, *ŋo
蕅 *ŋoːʔ
愚 *ŋo
隅 *ŋo
禺 *ŋo, *ŋos
湡 *ŋo
堣 *ŋo
嵎 *ŋo
鰅 *ŋo, *ŋoŋ
鍝 *ŋo
遇 *ŋos
寓 *ŋos
庽 *ŋos
媀 *ŋos
喁 *ŋoŋ
顒 *ŋoŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋoːʔ, *ŋoːs) : semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 禺 (OC *ŋo, *ŋos) – a statue of a person, an idol.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 偶
Reading # 1/2
Initial (聲) 疑 (31)
Final (韻) 侯 (137)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 五口切
Baxter nguwX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ŋəuX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ŋəuX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ŋəuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ŋəwX/
Li
Rong 		/ŋuX/
Wang
Li 		/ŋəuX/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ŋə̯uX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		ǒu
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		ngau5
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 偶
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		ǒu
Middle
Chinese 		‹ nguwX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋˁ(r)oʔ/
English pair, double

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 偶
Reading # 1/2
No. 15913
Phonetic
component 		禺
Rime
group 		侯
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		藕
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋoːʔ/

Definitions

偶

  1. idol
    偶像  ―  ǒuxiàng  ―  idol
    穿8號球衣的那個運動員是我的偶像！ [MSC, trad.]
    穿8号球衣的那个运动员是我的偶像！ [MSC, simp.]
    Chuān bā hào qiúyī de nà ge yùndòngyuán shì wǒ de ǒuxiàng!
    The athlete wearing no. 8 is my idol!
  2. couple; pair
  3. even (number)
    偶數／偶数  ―  ǒushù  ―  even number
  4. (slang, cute-sounding) Pronunciation spelling of 我.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 偶
Reading # 2/2
Initial (聲) 疑 (31)
Final (韻) 侯 (137)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 五遘切
Baxter nguwH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ŋəuH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ŋəuH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ŋəuH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ŋəwH/
Li
Rong 		/ŋuH/
Wang
Li 		/ŋəuH/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ŋə̯uH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		òu
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		ngau6
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 偶
Reading # 2/2
No. 15918
Phonetic
component 		禺
Rime
group 		侯
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		偶
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋoːs/

Definitions

偶

  1. accidentally, coincidentally, by accident, by chance, occasionally
    偶爾／偶尔  ―  ǒu'ěr  ―  occasionally
    偶然  ―  ǒurán  ―  occasionally, accidentally

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

偶

  1. (Xiamen and Quanzhou Hokkien) to stand side by side
  2. (Xiamen and Zhangzhou Hokkien) Classifier for pairs of horseshoe crabs.
    一偶鱟／一偶鲎 [Hokkien]  ―  chi̍t ngauh hāu [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  a pair of horseshoe crabs

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

偶

(Jōyō kanji)

Readings

  • Go-on: ぐ (gu)
  • Kan-on: ごう (gō)
  • Kan’yō-on: ぐう (gū, Jōyō)
  • Kun: たぐい (tagui, 偶)、たまたま (tamatama, 偶)

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
偶
たま
Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative forms

Adjective

偶(たま) • (tama) -na (adnominal 偶(たま)な (tama na), adverbial 偶(たま)に (tama ni))

  1. occasional
Inflection
Inflection of 偶
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) 偶だろ たまだろ tama daro
Continuative (連用形) 偶で たまで tama de
Terminal (終止形) 偶だ たまだ tama da
Attributive (連体形) 偶な たまな tama na
Hypothetical (仮定形) 偶なら たまなら tama nara
Imperative (命令形) 偶であれ たまであれ tama de are
Key constructions
Informal negative 偶ではない
偶じゃない 		たまではない
たまじゃない 		tama de wa nai
tama ja nai
Informal past 偶だった たまだった tama datta
Informal negative past 偶ではなかった
偶じゃなかった 		たまではなかった
たまじゃなかった 		tama de wa nakatta
tama ja nakatta
Formal 偶です たまです tama desu
Formal negative 偶ではありません
偶じゃありません 		たまではありません
たまじゃありません 		tama de wa arimasen
tama ja arimasen
Formal past 偶でした たまでした tama deshita
Formal negative past 偶ではありませんでした
偶じゃありませんでした 		たまではありませんでした
たまじゃありませんでした 		tama de wa arimasen deshita
tama ja arimasen deshita
Conjunctive 偶で たまで tama de
Conditional 偶なら（ば） たまなら（ば） tama nara (ba)
Provisional 偶だったら たまだったら tama dattara
Volitional 偶だろう たまだろう tama darō
Adverbial 偶に たまに tama ni
Degree 偶さ たまさ tamasa

Noun

偶(たま) • (tama) 

  1. rarity

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
偶
たまたま
Grade: S
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 偶 – see the following entry.
【たまたま】
unexpectedly, by chance; luckily
Alternative spellings
偶々, 偶偶, 適, 適ま
(This term, 偶, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
偶
ぐう
Grade: S
on'yomi

Derived from Middle Chinese 偶 (MC nguwX|nguwH).

Pronunciation

Noun

偶(ぐう) • (gū) 

  1. (mathematics) even
    Synonyms: 偶数 (gūsū), 丁 (chō)
    数(すう)字(じ)には奇(き)も偶(ぐう)もある。
    Sūji ni wa ki mo gū mo aru.
    Numerals may be odd or even.
Coordinate terms

Korean

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 偶 (MC nguwX, “idol; pair”).

Historical readings

Pronunciation

  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key):
  • Phonetic hangul:
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

偶 (eumhun 짝 우 (jjak u))

  1. hanja form? of 우 (“idol; pair”)
  2. hanja form? of 우 (“even (number)”)

Compounds

Compounds

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 偶 (MC nguwH, “by chance”).

Historical readings

Pronunciation

Hanja

偶 (eumhun 마침 우 (machim u))

  1. hanja form? of 우 (“by chance; accidentally; coincidentally”)

Compounds

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

偶: Hán Nôm readings: ngẫu, ngẩu, ngậu

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