朝

Stroke order

朝 (Kangxi radical 74, 月+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 十十月 (JJB), four-corner 4742₀, composition ⿰龺月)

• 𠎫 嘲 𢢅 潮 𨗛 𣊿 𣛨 𣎢 謿 𨅹 𩻹 𦺓 𣋂 𢀭 廟

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 506, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14374
• Dae Jaweon: page 885, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2084, character 8
• Unihan data for U+671D

Historical forms of the character 朝
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Qin slip script

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 2 or 4 屮 (“grass”) or even 木 (“tree”) + 日 (“sun”) + 月 (“moon”) – the sun rising above the ground while the waning moon is still in the sky – the morning.

In the bronze script, it was a compound of 𠦝 and a pictograph of a river (川 or 水) – this was possibly an original form for 潮 (OC *r'ew, “tide”). The river glyph may be a corruption of 月 due to association with tides or diurnal events. Chi (2010) considers such forms to be phono-semantic (形聲 / 形声) , where 𠦝 is the abbreviated form of the phonetic 朝 (OC *ʔr'ew, *r'ew). In the some late Western Zhou forms, 𠦝 was corrupted into a form resembling 車.

According to Guo Moruo, in the stone drum inscriptions (石鼓文 (shígǔwén), likely from the Spring and Autumn period) 㫃 was added (attached to 車), and the river glyph was replaced with 舟 (OC *tjɯw), which was interpreted as the phonetic component; the small seal script might have inherited from this form. Shuowen interpreted the fused components of 𠦝 and 㫃 as a semantic component 倝 (“dawn”). However, the accuracy of identification has been questioned; the character was a heavily weathered one in which the 㫃 identification was probably spurious and likely influenced by the Shuowen. Meanwhile, the 舟 component on the right remained somewhat legible.^[1]

The 舟 component remained in the bamboo and wooden slips of the Warring States period (see the table). In the clerical script since the Han dynasty, 舟 had been reverted to 月; it is unclear whether this was a remnant from 月 in the oracle bone script or a corruption of 舟 (as in 朕 < 𦩎 and many other characters). The current form is essentially inherited from the clerical script.

“Morning” > “perform the morning ceremony” > “to go/come to court; to have an audience”. Derivative: 潮 (OC *r'ew, “morning tide”).

Perhaps related to Thai เพรา (prao, “morning”) (Manomaivibool, 1975).

朝

1. morning

   朝夕  ―  zhāoxī  ―  morning and evening; all the time

2. daytime; day; full day

   • 由今之道，無變今之俗，雖與之天下，不能一朝居也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     由今之道，无变今之俗，虽与之天下，不能一朝居也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Yóu jīn zhī dào, wú biàn jīn zhī sú, suī yǔ zhī tiānxià, bùnéng yī zhāo jū yě.

     Although a prince, pursuing the path of the present day, and not changing its practices, were to have the throne given to him, he could not retain it for a single day.

   • 今朝有酒今朝醉，明日愁來明日愁。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     今朝有酒今朝醉，明日愁来明日愁。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. 833-909: Luo Yin (羅隱／罗隐), 自遣 (Self Consolation)

     Jīnzhāo yǒu jiǔ jīnzhāo zuì, míngrì chóu lái míngrì chóu.

     If there is wine today, then today is the day to get drunk. Worry about tomorrow's worries when they come tomorrow.

3. (obsolete) beginning; start
4. (Cantonese, Hakka, Northern Min) breakfast
5. a surname

朝

1. (historical) to wish elders or seniors good health; to visit (a senior person)
2. (historical) to have an audience with the king or emperor; to perform the morning ceremony; to go to court
3. to make a pilgrimage to; to pay homage to
4. to assemble; to call; to gather
5. imperial court
6. dynasty (line of rulers)
7. emperor's reign; period ruled by a particular emperor or king
8. government; imperial government
9. affairs of the state
10. (historical) courtier class
11. (Huizhou) paternal grandfather
12. to face

    朝著南邊／朝着南边  ―  cháozhe nánbiān  ―  facing the south

13. towards; to; on

    朝前看  ―  cháo qián kàn  ―  look ahead

14. Short for 朝鮮／朝鲜 (Cháoxiǎn, “North Korea; Korea”).

    美朝關係／美朝关系  ―  Měi Cháo guānxì  ―  US-North Korea relations

• “朝”, 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–

Shinjitai	朝
Kyūjitai [1]	朝󠄁 朝+󠄁? (Adobe-Japan1)
	朝󠄃 朝+󠄃? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

From Middle Chinese 朝 (MC trjew, “morning”):

• Go-on: ちょう (chō, Jōyō)^{←てう (teu, historical)}
• Kan-on: ちょう (chō, Jōyō)^{←てう (teu, historical)}
• Kun: あさ (asa, 朝, Jōyō)、あした (ashita, 朝)
• Nanori: とき (toki)、はじめ (hajime)