癸

癸 (Kangxi radical 105, 癶+4, 9 strokes, cangjie input 弓人一大 (NOMK), four-corner 1243₀, composition ⿱癶天)

• 𡎝 𡞳 揆 湀 猤 暌 楑 睽 䙆 聧 䠏 䤆 鍨 騤(骙)
• 鄈 戣 䳫 葵 闋(阕)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 783, character 32
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 22660
• Dae Jaweon: page 1193, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2760, character 4
• Unihan data for U+7678

Historical forms of the character 癸
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Shizhoupian script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) - Multiple uncertain interpretations.

Possibly, this was a pictograph of a four handled plow, meant to be operated by 4 people at a time. This character shows how essential and commonplace collective farming was roughly 3000 years ago. Otherwise, it is composed of two halberds (戣 kuí).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Glyph origin from Chinese Wiktionary”)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

癸

1. the tenth of the ten heavenly stems
2. a surname

• (Chinese heavenly stems) 天干 (tiāngān); 甲 (jiǎ), 乙 (yǐ), 丙 (bǐng), 丁 (dīng), 戊 (wù), 己 (jǐ), 庚 (gēng), 辛 (xīn), 壬 (rén), 癸 (guǐ) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese heavenly stems)}

• → Zhuang: gveiq

• (Min Nan) “Entry #5236”, 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.

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. something J
   1. tenth of the ten heavenly stems
   2. tenth rank

• Go-on: き (ki)
• Kan-on: き (ki)
• Kun: みずのと (mizunoto, 癸)^{←みづのと (midunoto, 癸, historical)}

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

癸

Wikipedia ^ja

From Middle Chinese 癸 (kjwij^X).

• (Tokyo) き (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

• Homophones: 木, 樹, 生, 杵, 柝, 黄, 己, 危, 忌, 奇, 季, 紀, 鬼, 基, 揆, 期, 簋

癸(き) • (Ki) 

1. the tenth of the ten heavenly stems;

   Hypernyms: 天干 (tenkan), 十干 (jikkan)

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

2. the tenth rank; something J

水 (Mizu, “Water”, one of the Five Elements) +‎ の (no, attributive marker) +‎ 弟 (oto, “younger brother”)

• (Tokyo) みずのと (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

癸(みずのと) • (Mizunoto) ^{←みづのと (Midunoto)?}

1. the tenth of the ten heavenly stems

   Hypernyms: 天干 (tenkan), 十干 (jikkan)

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

癸 (eumhun 천간 계 (cheon'gan gye))

1. hanja form^? of 계 (“tenth heavenly stem”)

癸: Hán Nôm readings: quý, quấy, quậy

1. chữ Hán form of Quý (“tenth of the ten heavenly stems”).

   Hypernyms: 天干, 十干

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸