早

Stroke order

Stroke order

早 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+2, 6 strokes, cangjie input 日十 (AJ), four-corner 6040₀, composition ⿱日十)

• 㔬 卓 章 草 覃 𰁹 𫩭 𭎓 𭑷 𭜬 𢫵 𭥳 𣑬 𤞋 𥏅 𮁲 𮇘 𮈎 𮡲 𫘷 𪞂 𨚰 𭥡 𬀵 𭦞 𭧃 𭧓 𨴝 𠦝(龺) 𡴐 𣁌 𫅃 𭈼 𥏯 𪸣 𬁄

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 489, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13742
• Dae Jaweon: page 850, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1483, character 6
• Unihan data for U+65E9

Historical forms of the character 早
Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Early bronze inscriptions: Pictogram (象形) – acorn. Original form of 皂 (OC *zuːʔ) through an intermediate variant 皁 (once also written as 草 (cǎo)). Borrowed phonetically for "morning" sense.

Late bronze inscriptions: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ʔsuːʔ) : semantic 日 (“sun”) + phonetic 棗 (OC *ʔsuːʔ), with 棗 sometimes simplified as 朿.

Small seal script: Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 日 (“sun”) + 甲 (“first”) – when the sun first rises. However, Xu Shen's interpretation is not based on oracle bones and bronzes inscriptions.

In some ancient texts, 蚤 (OC *ʔsuːʔ) was often used instead.

Unrelated to the ancient version of 是: in this character, it doesn't represent an acorn but a spoon.

Possible cognate found in Proto-Hmong-Mien *ntsi̯ouˣ (“early”), whence White Hmong ntxov and Iu Mien nziou (Baxter and Sagart, 2014; Schuessler, 2007), and Proto-Tai *ɟaːwꟲ (“early morning”), whence Thai เช้า (cháao) and Lü ᦋᧁᧉ (tsaw²).

早

1. early; in advance; soon

   我醒得很早。  ―  Wǒ xǐng dé hěn zǎo.  ―  I woke up early.

   你能不能早一點來？ [MSC, trad.]
   你能不能早一点来？ [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ néng bù néng zǎo yīdiǎn lái?

   Can you be here a little earlier?

   請問，我今天早走一會兒行嗎？ [MSC, trad.]
   请问，我今天早走一会儿行吗？ [MSC, simp.]

   Qǐngwèn, wǒ jīntiān zǎo zǒu yīhuìr xíng ma?

   Please could I leave early today?

   Antonym: 遲 / 迟

2. long ago; for a long time

   他早走了。  ―  Tā zǎo zǒu le.  ―  He left long ago.

   這個變壓器已經燒毀了，早該拆換一個新的了。 [MSC, trad.]
   这个变压器已经烧毁了，早该拆换一个新的了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè ge biànyāqì yǐjīng shāo huǐ le, zǎo gāi chāi huàn yī ge xīn de le.

   This transformer has burnt out. It should have been replaced a long time ago.

3. (early) morning

   我今早沒有見到他。 [MSC, trad.]
   我今早没有见到他。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ jīn zǎo méi yǒu jiàndào tā.

   I didn't see him this morning.

4. good morning

   老師早！／老师早！  ―  Lǎoshī zǎo!  ―  Good morning, teacher!

   Synonym: 早安 (zǎo'ān)

5. before; in the past time

   現在這麼匆忙，你早幹嗎去了。 [MSC, trad.]
   现在这么匆忙，你早干吗去了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Xiànzài zhème cōngmáng, nǐ zǎo gànmá qù le.

   So now you are in a hurry. What were you doing before?

6. Short for 早上 (zǎoshang).; a.m.

   早八  ―  zǎo bā  ―  8:00 a.m.

7. (Hainanese) breakfast
8. a surname

• “早”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #2446”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: そう (sō, Jōyō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
• Kan-on: そう (sō, Jōyō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: さっ (sa', Jōyō ^†)
• Kun: はやい (hayai, 早い, Jōyō)、はやまる (hayamaru, 早まる, Jōyō)、はやめる (hayameru, 早める, Jōyō)、さ (sa, 早)、わさ (wasa, 早)

• 足(あし)早(ばや) (ashibaya): briskness, swift-footedness, fast-pacedness

• (Tokyo) はや (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

早(はや) • (haya) 

1. already, now

   はや数日(すうじつ)

   haya-sūjitsu

   (please add an English translation of this example)

   — few days now (or few days in the future)

From Middle Chinese 早 (MC tsawX). Recorded as Middle Korean 조〯 (cwǒ) (Yale: cwo) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

早

Wikisource

早 (eumhun 일찍 조 (iljjik jo))

1. hanja form^? of 조 (“early”)

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

早: Hán Việt readings: tảo (子(tử)皓(hạo)切(thiết))^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
早: Nôm readings: tảo^[2][4][6], chảo^[1], tảu

1. chữ Hán form of tảo (“early; in advance”).
2. chữ Hán form of tảo (“morning”).