粒

粒 (Kangxi radical 119, 米+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 火木卜廿 (FDYT), four-corner 9091₈, composition ⿰米立)

• 𨅀, 𩻑

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 907, character 22
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 26884
• Dae Jaweon: page 1333, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3145, character 12
• Unihan data for U+7C92

• Unihan data for U+F9F9

Historical forms of the character 粒
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rɯb) : semantic 米 (“rice”) + phonetic 立 (OC *rɯb).

粒

1. grain

   • 誰知盤中餐，粒粒皆辛苦？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Tang Dynasty, 李紳 , 憫農

     Shéi zhī pán zhōng cān, lì lì jiē xīnkǔ?

     Who is aware that every grain of the meal in the plate is of toil?

2. small particle
3. Classifier for small, round objects: granule, grain, particle, piece ⇒ all nouns using this classifier

   一粒米  ―  yī lì mǐ  ―  a grain of rice

   一粒糖 [Cantonese]  ―  jat¹ lap¹ tong^4-2   ―  a piece of candy

4. (Hokkien, Eastern Min, Taiwanese, Singapore and Malaysian Mandarin) Classifier for any round, solid objects.

   一粒西瓜  ―  yī lì xīguā  ―  a watermelon

   • 故鄉彼粒山　永遠徛佇遐　毋知幾冬 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
     故乡彼粒山　永远徛伫遐　毋知几冬 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

     From: 2018, 許富凱 and 蔡佳麟 (lyricist 徐偉銘), 《疼憨人》

     kò͘-hiong hit lia̍p soaⁿ, éng-oán khiā tī hia, m̄ chai kúi tang [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     The mountain in my hometown stands there forever, for who knows how many years.

5. (Hokkien) with hard grains and not mushy (of rice)
6. (Cantonese) Classifier for hours.
7. (Cantonese) Classifier for offspring.
   • 1952, 唐龍, directed by 潘炳權, 契爺艷史 [Foster-Daddy's Romantic Affairs]‎, spoken by 梁大寒 (梁醒波 [Leung Sing Poh]):

     爸爸得你哋一粒仔一粒女㗎咋噃。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

     baa^1-4 baa¹ dak¹ nei⁵ dei⁶ jat¹ lap¹ zai² jat¹ lap¹ neoi⁵ gaa³ zaa³ bo³.

     Dad only has you two, a son and a daughter.

8. (Cantonese) Classifier for pips (insignia).
9. (Cantonese, by extension) high-ranking police officer; police officer with pips
10. (Cantonese, slang) Classifier for money: ten thousand yuan, dollars, etc.

    Synonym: 個／个

• “粒”, 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 #7738”, 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.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. grains
2. drop
3. counter for tiny particles

• Go-on: りゅう (ryū, Jōyō)^{←りふ (rifu, historical)}
• Kan-on: りゅう (ryū, Jōyō)^{←りふ (rifu, historical)}
• Kun: つぶ (tsubu, 粒, Jōyō)

Not attested until a text from the Muromachi period with the spelling ツブ (tsubu).^[1]

An earlier form 粒 (tsubi) exists, which might have been the predecessor to this word; both must have been ultimately derived from a source cognate to つぶら (tsubura, “the state of being round and small”, obsolete).^[1][2]

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

• (Kyoto) つぶ  (Kōki – )^[1]

粒(つぶ) • (tsubu) 

1. something round and small, such as a drop of grain or a bead
2. the seed of a grain
3. a black, hard seed obtained from the skin of a soapnut tree
4. Synonym of 無患子 (mukuroji, “Indian soapberry (Sapindus mukoross)”)
5. a small change of coins
6. the bead of an abacus
7. a person or thing who makes up a larger group of such
8. a beat of a percussion instrument during performances such as noh and nagauta
9. a wig used in kabuki plays whose chignon is small and round
10. Synonym of 螺 (tsubu, “pond snail”, now dialectal)
11. (slang, gambling) dice; die

粒(つぶ) • (-tsubu) 

1. used to count things that are round and small, such as seeds and pills
2. (historical, Edo period) used to count 一分金 (ichibukin, “a currency equivalent to 1/4 of a 両 (ryō)”)

From Old Japanese 粒 (tubi₂), itself attested since the Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki of 794:^[2]

• 数其滴 古経為_二字_一滴音宅、訓都飛^[2]

  The number of those drops; in the old Buddhist sutras, the character 滴 (dī) meaning "drop" is to be read something like tek; the native Japanese reading for this word is tubi₂.

This word, along with 粒 (tsubu), must have been derived from a source cognate to つぶら (tsubura, “the state of being round and small”, obsolete).^[2][1]

粒(つび) • (tsubi) 

1. (obsolete) Synonym of 粒 (tsubu, “something round and small, etc.”)

First cited to a work from the late Muromachi period; this word is a variant of 粒 (tsubu).^[3]

粒(つぼ) • (tsubo) 

1. (slang, obsolete) Synonym of 粒 (tsubu, “something round and small, etc.”)

Often used in conjunction with other nouns.

From Middle Chinese 粒 (MC lip).

• (Tokyo) りゅう (Atamadaka – )^[4]
• IPA^(key):

粒(りゅう) • (ryū) ^{←りふ (rifu)?}

1. a drop of grain

粒(りゅう) • (-ryū) ^{←りふ (-rifu)?}

1. used to count things that are round and small, such as seeds and pills

From Middle Chinese 粒 (MC lip). Recorded as Middle Korean 립〮 (líp) (Yale: lip) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

粒

Wikisource

粒 (eumhun 알 립 (al rip), word-initial (South Korea) 알 입 (al ip))

1. hanja form^? of 립/입 (“grain”)

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

粒: Hán Nôm readings: lạp, lép

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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