幾何

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See also: 几何

Chinese

Etymology

geometry
First used in Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci's translation of Euclid's Elements in 1607. The derivation likely comes the sense of 幾何 meaning "how many?/how much?" broadened to be a term denoting mathematics concerning number and magnitude in general. The application of the term to specifically mean geometry would have been the result of the way the work was published, in groups of books with long intervals between. When the first six books were published together, the main content of the work was on plane geometry, so 幾何 became a term referring to just that.[1]

Pronunciation 1

how much; how many; several
how much; how many; several; a few; almost
 
carry; what; how
carry; what; how; why; which
 
trad. (幾何)
simp. (几何)

Note: Erhua-ed pronunciation is only used for the geometry sense.

Rime
Character
Reading # 3/4 1/2
Initial () (28) (33)
Final () (20) (94)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division () III I
Fanqie
Baxter kj+jX ha
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/kɨiX/ /ɦɑ/
Pan
Wuyun
/kɨiX/ /ɦɑ/
Shao
Rongfen
/kiəiX/ /ɣɑ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/kɨjX/ /ɦa/
Li
Rong
/kiəiX/ /ɣɑ/
Wang
Li
/kĭəiX/ /ɣɑ/
Bernhard
Karlgren
/ke̯iX/ /ɣɑ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
gei2 ho4
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 2/2 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ kjɨjX › ‹ ha ›
Old
Chinese
/*kəjʔ/ /*ˁaj/
English few; how many what

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
Reading # 2/4 1/2
No. 5800 7458
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
1 1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*kɯlʔ/ /*ɡaːl/

Adverb

幾何

  1. (literary) how much; how many
    女兒芳齡幾何 [MSC, trad.]
    女儿芳龄几何 [MSC, simp.]
    Nín nǚ'ér fānglíng jǐhé?
    How old is your daughter?
Synonyms
Derived terms

Noun

幾何

  1. (mathematics) geometry
Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (幾何):

Pronunciation 2

how much; how many; several
how much; how many; several; a few; almost
 
carry; what; how
carry; what; how; why; which
 
trad. (幾何)
simp. (几何)
alternative forms 幾好几好

Adverb

幾何

  1. (Taishanese) how
  2. (Taishanese) why
Synonyms

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term

Grade: S

Grade: 2
kan'on

Shortening of 幾何学 (kikagaku, geometry).[2][3]

First attested in the early Meiji period, in a text from 1886.[2]

Pronunciation

Noun

()() (kika

  1. (mathematics, colloquial) Short for 幾何学 (kikagaku): geometry
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
いく
Grade: S
ばく
Grade: 2
kun'yomi irregular
For pronunciation and definitions of 幾何 – see the following entry.
幾許いくばく
how much, how many
(usually followed by (ka)), few, a little bit
(chiefly in the negative) a little bit, not much
Alternative spelling
幾ばく
幾許こきし
many, a lot
幾許いくだ
(chiefly in the negative) a little bit, not much
Alternative spelling
幾ばく
(This term, 幾何, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Usage notes

The kanji spelling is an orthographic borrowing from Chinese 幾何 / 几何 (jǐhé).

References

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Adjective

幾何

  1. chữ Hán form of kỉ hà (geometric).