衰

衰 (Kangxi radical 145, 衣+4, 10 strokes, cangjie input 卜田一女 (YWMV), four-corner 0073₂, composition ⿴衣⿻口一 or ⿳亠⿻口一𧘇 or ⿻哀一)

• 滖, 榱, 䙑, 縗, 缞, 㲤, 蓑, 簑

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1112, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34127
• Dae Jaweon: page 1577, character 21
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3076, character 9
• Unihan data for U+8870

Historical forms of the character 衰
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) — a piece of clothing made from palm fibers to be used as a raincoat (original form of 蓑) (Ji Xusheng, 2004).

Compare Khmer រៀវ (riəw, “to diminish; to decrease”), Mizo zuai (“to decline (in diligence, enthusiasm, industry, etc.)”) (Schuessler, 2007).

衰

1. to grow weak; to decrease in strength; to decline

   未老先衰  ―  wèilǎoxiānshuāi  ―  to decline in health before becoming old

2. (Cantonese, Hakka, Min) to have bad luck

   人衰行路打倒褪

   jan⁴ seoi¹ haang⁴ lou⁶ daa² dou² tan³

   when luck is bad, you can’t even walk straight

   衰足五年   ―  seoi¹ zuk¹ ng⁵ nin⁴   ―  had five years of completely bad luck

3. (Cantonese, Hakka) bad; detestable; awful

   咁衰㗎！   ―  gam³ seoi¹ gaa⁴!   ―  That's awful!

   咁衰都有！   ―  gam³ seoi¹ dou¹ jau⁵!   ―  How can it be this awful!

   做衰嘢   ―  zou⁶ seoi¹ je⁵   ―  to do bad things

   衰人   ―  seoi¹ jan⁴   ―  bad person

   衰婆   ―  seoi¹ po^4-2   ―  bitch

4. (Cantonese) to make a grave mistake

   我衰咗啦！   ―  ngo⁵ seoi¹ zo² laa¹!   ―  I've made a mistake!

   今次唔可以再衰㗎喇！

   gam¹ ci³ m⁴ ho² ji⁵ zoi³ seoi¹ gaa³ laa³!

   (We) can’t screw it up anymore this time

   我衰咗三年，我等緊個機會，爭返口氣。
   我衰咗三年，我等紧个机会，争返口气。

   From: 1986, 《英雄本色》 (“A Better Tomorrow”)

   ngo⁵ seoi¹ zo² saam¹ nin⁴, ngo⁵ dang² gan² go³ gei¹ wui⁶, caang¹ faan¹ hau² hei³.

   I had suffered three years of bad luck, I’m waiting for my turn to get everything back. (In context: spent three years in jail)

5. (Cantonese, transitive) to mess up (something); to be caught for (wrongdoing)

   你衰咩呀？   ―  nei⁵ seoi¹ me¹ aa³?   ―  What did you do wrong?

   我衰邊範啫？
   我衰边范啫？

   ngo⁵ seoi¹ bin¹ faan⁶ ze¹?

   What’s my wrongdoing/offence (often with legal implications)?

   衰十一   ―  seoi¹ sap⁶ jat¹   ―  to get caught for sex with a minor

   衰販毒／衰贩毒   ―  seoi¹ faan³ duk⁶   ―  to get caught for drug trafficking

6. (Cantonese) to suffer from faulty personality traits or habits, or commit minor faults with moderate to significant consequences.

   都係我衰心軟。
   都系我衰心软。

   dou¹ hai⁶ ngo⁵ seoi¹ sam¹ jyun⁵.

   I had been too kind-hearted/forgiving.

   成日衰遲到。
   成日衰迟到。

   seng⁴ jat⁶ seoi¹ ci⁴ dou³.

   He messes up all the time for being late.

   我就係衰在太靚仔。
   我就系衰在太靓仔。

   ngo⁵ zau⁶ hai⁶ seoi¹ zoi⁶ taai³ leng³ zai².

   My wrong is being too handsome.

• (antonym(s) of “Cantonese: disagreeable”): 好 (hou2)

• (Cantonese: disagreeable): 曳 (jai5), 惡／恶 (ok3)

• → English: suay
• → Indonesian: soe
• → Thai: ซวย (suai)

Schuessler (2007) reconstructs the Old Chinese minimally as *k-sroi, treating it as 衰 (OC *srui) (etymology 1) with the initial *k.

衰

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to reduce; to decrease in order

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

衰

1. alternative form of 縗 / 缞 (cuī, “a type of mourning garment made of sackcloth”)
2. (archaic, borrowing) alternative form of 崔 (cuī, “a surname”)
   1. used in 衰子/title for 崔杼 (as found in a bronze pot inscription)

• “衰”, 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–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03712
• zi.tools
• 承繼與拓新：漢語語言文字學研究 （上下卷合輯）: page 514, page 515 An origin of 衰 as borrowed form of 崔

(Jōyō kanji)

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• Go-on: せ (se)、し (shi)、すい (sui, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: さい (sai)、し (shi)、すい (sui, Jōyō)
• On: さ (sa)
• Kun: おとろえる (otoroeru, 衰える, Jōyō)

• 老衰(ろうすい) (rōsui)

衰 • (soe, choe, sa) (hangeul 쇠, 최, 사, revised soe, choe, sa, McCune–Reischauer soe, ch'oe, sa, Yale soy, choy, sa)

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衰: Hán Nôm readings: suy, thôi, thoai

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