妾

妾 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 卜廿女 (YTV), four-corner 0040₄, composition ⿱立女)

• 接, 𮀨, 𮋵, 踥

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 257, character 39
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6147
• Dae Jaweon: page 523, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1040, character 8
• Unihan data for U+59BE

Historical forms of the character 妾
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Uncertain.

Possibly a pictogram (象形) of a woman with a headdress. Cognate to 女 with 辛 on top, though in the modern form the headdress has simplified to unrelated 立.

Alternatively, may be an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 辛 (“torture device”) + 女 (“woman”) – female criminal.

Cognate to 捷 (OC *zeb, “victory; booty”) (Schuessler, 2007). See there for more.

妾

1. slave woman

   • 馬牛其風，臣妾逋逃，勿敢越逐，祗復之，我商賚汝。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     马牛其风，臣妾逋逃，勿敢越逐，祗复之，我商赉汝。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 7^th – 4^th centuries BCE

     Mǎ niú qí fēng, chén qiè būtáo, wù gǎn yuè zhú, zhī fù zhī, wǒ shāng lài rǔ.

     When horses or oxen run about in heat, or when slaves and slave women abscond, do not dare go away and pursue them; but if you respectfully return them, I will reward you.

2. concubine

   • 初命曰：「誅不孝，無易樹子，無以妾為妻。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     初命曰：「诛不孝，无易树子，无以妾为妻。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Chū mìng yuē: “Zhū bùxiào, wú yì shùzǐ, wú yǐ qiè wèi qī.”

     The first injunction in their agreement was, "Slay the unfilial; change not the son who has been appointed heir; exalt not a concubine to be the wife."

3. (archaic, humble) I; me (used by women to show modesty)

   • 妾有黃金釵，嫁時爲首飾。今日贈君行，千里長相憶。 [Korean Literary Sinitic, trad.]

     From: 《效崔國輔體》, Heo Nanseolheon, early 1600s

     Cheop yu hwanggeum chae, ga si wi susik. Geumil jeung gun haeng, cheol li jang sang eok. [Sino-Korean]

     I have a golden hairpin: my jewelry when I was married. Today I give it to you as you leave; long shall we remember each other, a thousand miles away.

4. a surname

• (slave woman): 女奴 (nǚnú)
• (concubine):

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. concubine
2. servant

• Go-on: しょう (shō)^{←せふ (sefu, historical)}
• Kan-on: しょう (shō)^{←せふ (sefu, historical)}
• Kun: めかけ (mekake, 妾)、わらわ (warawa, 妾)

(The following entry is uncreated: てかけ.)

(The following entry is uncreated: おんなめ.)

妾(しょう) • (shō) 

1. concubine

妾(しょう) • (shō) 

1. (humble, feminine) I, me

From Middle Chinese 妾 (MC tshjep). Recorded as Middle Korean 쳡〮 (chyép) (Yale: chyep) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

妾

Wikisource

妾 (eumhun 첩 첩 (cheop cheop))

1. hanja form^? of 첩 (“concubine”)

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

妾: Hán Nôm readings: thiếp, thê

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