司

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 司. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 司, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 司 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 司 you have here. The definition of the word 司 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of司, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
司 U+53F8, 司
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-53F8
← 号
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 叹 →

Translingual

Stroke order
0 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

司 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 尸一口 (SMR), four-corner 17620, composition ⿹𠃌𠮛)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 174, character 3
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3257
  • Dae Jaweon: page 385, character 8
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 572, character 8
  • Unihan data for U+53F8

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 司
alternative forms 𤔲

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 司
Shang Western Zhou Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (司) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
司 *slɯ
伺 *slɯ, *slɯs
覗 *slɯ, *slɯs
笥 *slɯ, *slɯs
詞 *ljɯ
祠 *ljɯ
柌 *ljɯ
嗣 *ljɯs
孠 *ljɯs
飼 *ljɯs
呞 *hljɯ

Inconclusive.

  • Jì Xùshēng: a mouth 口 giving orders and a scepter 刁 of authority.
  • Liú Xìnglóng interprets 刁 to be a hand instead.
  • Táng Lán: Originally the same character as 后, which later diverged.
  • Shuowen: 后 flipped.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *zə; cognate with Proto-Kukish *ca, Mru caŋ (“to do; to make”), and Tibetan མཛད (mdzad, “to do; to act”), མཛོད (mdzod), possibly also related to བཟོ (bzo, “work, labour”) (Schuessler, 2007). Schuessler disputes Löffler's (1966) proposed connection of these cognates to 作 (OC *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡs, *ʔsaːɡ, “to do, work, make”) due to phonological difficulties.

Unger (1984) posits a possible relationship with Tibetan རྫི་པོ (rdzi po, “herdsman”).

Pronunciation

Note:
  • sir/su/si (Jinjiang, Philippines) - literary;
  • si/sai - vernacular.
Rime
Character 司
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 之 (19)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 息兹切
Baxter si
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/sɨ/
Pan
Wuyun 		/sɨ/
Shao
Rongfen 		/sie/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/sɨ/
Li
Rong 		/siə/
Wang
Li 		/sĭə/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/si/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		sī
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		si1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 司
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		sī
Middle
Chinese 		‹ si ›
Old
Chinese 		/*s-lə/
English superintend

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 司
Reading # 1/1
No. 11951
Phonetic
component 		司
Rime
group 		之
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		思
Old
Chinese 		/*slɯ/

Definitions

司

  1. to take charge of; to control; to manage
  2. officer; official
  3. (chiefly Shanghainese) Used in transcription.
    起司  ―  qǐsī  ―  cheese
    違司／违司 [Shanghainese]  ―  6we-sy1 [Wugniu]  ―  rag (from waste)
    阿司匹林  ―  āsīpǐlín  ―  aspirin
    盎司  ―  àngsī  ―  ounce
  4. a surname

Compounds

References

Japanese

Kanji

司

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. an official, a director, a boss

Readings

Compounds

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
司
つかさ
Grade: 4
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 司 – see the following entry.
【つかさ】
阜, 司: a small hill
Alternative spelling
阜
(This term, 司, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
司
まもる
Grade: 4
nanori

Proper noun

司(まもる) • (Mamoru) 

  1. a male given name

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
司
みこともち
Grade: 4
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 司 – see the following entry.
【みこともち】
(archaic, possibly obsolete, historical) in ancient Japan prior to the Taika Reform, a governor appointed by the emperor to carry out imperial policies in the provinces
Alternative spelling
宰
(This term, 司, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Korean

Hanja

司 (eum 사 (sa))

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

Vietnamese

Han character

司: Hán Nôm readings: ti, tư, tơ

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