細

細 (Kangxi radical 120, 糸+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 女火田 (VFW), four-corner 2690₀, composition ⿰糹田)

• 𱔕, 𫱫, 𪷉, 𫋘, 𫎰, 𬧐, 𫙶, 𦃯, 𬗱, 𬘅, 𫄕, 𦹀, 𬗽, 𧀇

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 919, character 36
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 27344
• Dae Jaweon: page 1351, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3380, character 5
• Unihan data for U+7D30

Historical forms of the character 細
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *snɯːls) : semantic 糸 + phonetic 囟 (OC *snɯns). The right component is etymologically unrelated to 田 in which it was corrupted to after the Han dynasty.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *z(j)əj (“little; small; tiny”) (STEDT); cognate with Jingpho zi (“small”), Tibetan ཟི (zi, “small”), Burmese သေး (se:, “small”).

細

1. (literary or Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Min) small; tiny; little

   Antonym: 大

   點解會咁細嘅？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   点解会咁细嘅？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   dim² gaai² wui⁵ gam³ sai³ ge²?

   Why is it so small?

2. thin; slender

   Antonym: 粗 (cū)

   細線／细线  ―  xì xiàn  ―  thin string

3. fine; delicate; exquisite

   Antonym: 粗 (cū)

   細沙／细沙  ―  xì shā  ―  fine sand

4. careful; detailed; meticulous
5. slowly; carefully; thoroughly; detailedly

   細看／细看  ―  xìkàn  ―  to carefully examine

6. trifling; trivial; unimportant
7. (of one's voice) soft
8. frugal; sparing
9. (literary or Cantonese, Hakka, Min) young; little

   Antonym: 大

   你仲細咩！／你仲细咩！ [Cantonese]  ―  nei⁵ zung⁶ sai³ me¹!   ―  you're still a child?

10. (Cantonese) to be younger than

    Antonym: 大

    細佢幾十年／细佢几十年 [Cantonese]  ―  sai³ keoi⁵ gei² sap⁶ nin⁴   ―  younger than them by a couple decades

11. (Hokkien) concubine

• (antonym(s) of “small”): 大 (dà, “large”)
• (antonym(s) of “young”): 大 (dà, “grown up”)
• (antonym(s) of “fine”): 粗 (cū, “coarse”)

• “細”, 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–
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 , editor (2022), “细”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 254.

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. thin, fine
2. slender

• Go-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せい (sei)
• Kun: ほそい (hosoi, 細い, Jōyō)、こまかい (komakai, 細かい, Jōyō)、ささやか (sasayaka, 細やか)、ほそる (hosoru, 細る, Jōyō)、こまか (komaka, 細か, Jōyō)、くわしい (kuwashī, 細しい)

• 細(さざれ)石(いし) (sazareishi): small stone
• 細(さい)菌(きん) (saikin): bacterium, germ
• 細(さい)部(ぶ) (saibu): details, minor
• 細(さい)分(ぶん) (saibun): divide into small portions
• 細(さい)分(ぶん)化(か) (saibunka): fragmentation
• 細(さい)胞(ぼう) (saibō): cell
• 細(さい)目(もく) (saimoku): details
• 繊(せん)細(さい) (sensai): delicate, sensitive

細 (eumhun 가늘 세 (ganeul se))

1. hanja form^? of 세 (“thin”)

細: Hán Việt readings: tế

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