更

更 U+66F4, 更 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-66F4 ← 曳 CJK Unified Ideographs 曵 →

更 U+F901, 更 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F901 ← 豈 CJK Compatibility Ideographs 車 →

Stroke order

更 (Kangxi radical 73, 曰+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 一中田大 (MLWK), four-corner 1050₆, composition ⿱一⿻日乂)

• 便 哽 埂 㛐 峺 挭 浭 㹴 䢚 𣆳 梗 硬 稉 粳 綆(绠) 𧣲 鞕 骾 鯁(鲠)
• 郠 𫨨 甦 𦑃 㬲 莄 筻 㾘

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 502, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14283
• Dae Jaweon: page 874, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 20, character 2
• Unihan data for U+66F4

• Unihan data for U+F901

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

Originally an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意), showing two chariots (丙). Later 攴 was added and a 丙 omitted to create the form seen in the Shuowen Jiezi (㪅), a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *kraːŋ, *kraːŋs): abbreviated phonetic 𰀒 (, “two chariots”) + semantic 攴 (“hand holding a whip; action”). The remaining 丙 eventually corrupted into a shape similar to 雨.

更

1. to change; to replace

   • 子貢曰：「君子之過也，如日月之食焉。過也，人皆見之；更也，人皆仰之。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子贡曰：「君子之过也，如日月之食焉。过也，人皆见之；更也，人皆仰之。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE

     Zǐgòng yuē: “Jūnzǐ zhī guò yě, rú rìyuè zhī shí yān. Guò yě, rén jiē jiàn zhī; gēng yě, rén jiē yǎng zhī.”

     Zigong said, "A junzi’s mistakes are like solar and lunar eclipses. When he makes a mistake, all people see it; when he changes, all people look up to him.

2. to take turns; to rotate
3. to experience
4. 28th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "change" (𝌡)

更

1. (historical) watch (of a sentry)

   三更  ―  sāngèng  ―  third watch

2. (historical) one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided
3. (Hong Kong Cantonese, by extension) shift; work shift; work period

   一日三更，每更八個鐘。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   一日三更，每更八个钟。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   jat¹ jat⁶ saam¹ gaang¹, mui⁵ gaang¹ baat³ go³ zung¹.

   three shifts each day, eight hours each shift.

更

1. more; even more

   我的裙子更漂亮！ [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Wǒ de qúnzi gèng piàoliang!

   My skirt is even more beautiful!

   加拿大的房子比美國的更貴。 [MSC, trad.]
   加拿大的房子比美国的更贵。 [MSC, simp.]

   Jiānádà de fángzi bǐ Měiguó de gèng guì.

   Canadian homes are even more expensive than American homes.

   • 1995, 《回魂夜》 [Out of the Dark]‎, spoken by Leon (周星馳 [Stephen Chow]):

     如果想練習點克服恐懼就要靠呢枝「電光棒」。大家望一望，條引咁長明知點著咗佢有排先爆㗎，但係要你揸住佢呢就更大膽都淆底嘅，但係我唔瀉佢喎！ [Hong Kong Cantonese, trad.]
     如果想练习点克服恐惧就要靠呢枝「电光棒」。大家望一望，条引咁长明知点著咗佢有排先爆㗎，但系要你揸住佢呢就更大胆都淆底嘅，但系我唔泻佢㖞！ [Hong Kong Cantonese, simp.]

     jyu⁴ gwo² soeng² lin⁶ zaap⁶ dim² haak¹ fuk⁶ hung² geoi⁶ zau⁶ jiu³ kaau³ ni¹ zi¹ “din⁶ gwong¹ paang⁵”. daai⁶ gaa¹ mong⁶ jat¹ mong⁶, tiu⁴ jan⁵ gam³ coeng⁴ ming⁴ zi¹ dim² zoek⁶ zo² keoi⁵ jau⁵ paai⁴ sin¹ baau³ gaa³, daan⁶ hai⁶ jiu³ nei⁵ zaa¹ zyu⁶ keoi⁵ ne¹ zau⁶ ang³ daai⁶ daam² dou¹ ngaau⁴ dai² ge³, daan⁶ hai⁶ ngo⁵ m⁴ se³ keoi⁵ wo³!

     If you want to practise overcoming fear, you have to rely on this "glow stick". Look at it, with such a long fuse, obviously it takes a long time to explode, but if you are asked to hold this, you will still chicken out no matter how brave you are. Even then, I'm not scared of it!

   • 1886, Lim Hiong Seng, Handbook of the Swatow Vernacular, Singapore: Koh Yew Hean Press, page 48:

     此個敬長過彼個 Chí--kâi kèng-tn̂g kùe hṳ́-kâi

     只個更長過許個 [Teochew, trad.]
     只个更长过许个 [Teochew, simp.]

     zi² gai⁵ gêng³ deng⁵ guê³ he² gai⁵ [Peng'im]

     This is longer than that

2. (literary or Hong Kong) further; also

• → Vietnamese: càng

更

1. (Nanning Pinghua) so, to such an extent

• (Min Nan) “Entry #3228”, 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., 2025.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. grow late
2. night watch
3. of course
4. renew

• Go-on: きょう (kyō)^{←きやう (kyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←かう (kau, historical)}
• Kun: さら (sara, 更, Jōyō)、ふかす (fukasu, 更かす, Jōyō)、ふける (fukeru, 更ける, Jōyō)、あらためる (aratameru, 更める)

• 変更(へんこう) (henkō)
• 更新(こうしん) (kōshin)

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

更(こう) • (kō) ^{←かう (kau)?}

1. one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was divided in ancient China

From Middle Chinese 更 (MC kaengH).

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

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

更

Wikisource

更 (eumhun 다시 갱 (dasi gaeng))

1. hanja form^? of 갱 (“again”)

From Middle Chinese 更 (MC kaeng).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

更 (eumhun 고칠 경 (gochil gyeong))

1. hanja form^? of 경 (“to change; to fix”)

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

更: Hán Việt readings: canh^[1][2][3], cánh^[1][3]
更: Nôm readings: canh^[1][2][3], cánh^[1][2], cành^[1], gánh^[2], ngạnh^[3]

1. chữ Hán form of canh (“to watch; to guard”).