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Definition 2025

世

世

世 U+4E16, 世
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E16
← 丕
[U+4E15] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 丗 →
[U+4E17]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

世 (radical 1 一+4, 5 strokes, cangjie input 心廿 (PT), four-corner 44717, composition ⿻廿𠃊)

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: page 77, character 11
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31
  • Dae Jaweon: page 155, character 2
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 14, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+4E16

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 世
alt. forms 丗
卋
㔺

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 世
Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Bronze inscriptions

b02948

b02949

b02950

b02951

b02952

b02953

b02954

b02955

b02956

b02957

b02958

b02959

b02960

b02961

b02962

b02963

b02964

b02965

b02966

b02967

b02968

b02969

b02970

b02971

b02972
Large seal script

L35781

L35782

L35783

L35784

L35785

L35786

L35787

L35788

L35789

L35790

L35791

L35792

L35793

L19868

L19869

L19870

L19871

L19872

L19873

L19874

L19875

L19876

L19877

L19878

L19879

L19880

L19881

L19882

L19883

L19884

L19885
Small seal script

s01647
References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (large seal) and
  • Xu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series (世) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
貰 *ɦljebs, *hljebs
跇 *l̥ʰebs, *lebs
迣 *ʔljebs
世 *hljebs
泄 *lebs, *sled
枻 *lebs
詍 *lebs
靾 *lebs
袣 *lebs
抴 *lebs, *led
呭 *lebs
勩 *lebs, *libs
屜 *l̥ʰeːbs
鰈 *l̥ʰaːb, *l'eːb
渫 *zreːb, *sled
煠 *zreːb, *l̥ʰeb, *leb
喋 *rlaːb, *ʔl'eːb, *l'eːb
鞢 *rlaːb, *sleːb
殜 *l'eb, *leb, *lab
葉 *hljeb, *leb
弽 *hljeb, *hleːb
韘 *hljeb, *sleːb
枼 *leb
楪 *leb
揲 *leb, *l'eːb, *ɦljed
鍱 *leb
偞 *leb, *hleːb
蝶 *l̥ʰeːb, *l'eːb
牒 *l'eːb
蹀 *l'eːb
諜 *l'eːb
堞 *l'eːb
牃 *l'eːb
褋 *l'eːb
惵 *l'eːb
碟 *l'eːb
屧 *sleːb
屟 *sleːb
紲 *sled
齛 *sled
疶 *sled
緤 *sled
媟 *sled

Pictogram (象形) – three leaves on a branch. The derivative 葉 (OC *hljeb, *leb) refers to the original word.

Etymology

世 (OC *hljebs) is derived from iterative devoicing of 葉 (OC *hljeb, *leb, “leaf”) + *-s suffix, meaning successive foliages of a tree > generations. Compare Tibetan ལོ་མ ‎(lo ma, “leaf”), Western Tibetan ལོབ་མ ‎(lob ma, “leaf”) and Tibetan ལོ ‎(lo, “year”).

Pronunciation

  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 世
Mandarin Beijing /ʂʐ̩⁵¹/
Harbin /ʂʐ̩⁵³/
Tianjin /ʂʐ̩⁵³/
Jinan /ʂʐ̩²¹/
Qingdao /ʃz̩⁴²/
Zhengzhou /ʂʐ̩³¹²/
Xi'an /ʂʐ̩⁴⁴/
Xining /ʂʐ̩²¹³/
Yinchuan /ʂʐ̩¹³/
Lanzhou /ʂʐ̩¹³/
Ürümqi /ʂʐ̩²¹³/
Wuhan /sz̩³⁵/
Chengdu /sz̩¹³/
Guiyang /sz̩²¹³/
Kunming /ʂʐ̩²¹²/
Nanjing /ʂʐ̩⁴⁴/
Hefei /ʂʐ̩⁵³/
Jin Taiyuan /sz̩⁴⁵/
Pingyao /ʂʐ̩³⁵/
Hohhot /sz̩⁵⁵/
Wu Shanghai /sz̩³⁵/
Suzhou /sz̩ʷ⁵¹³/
Hangzhou /sz̩⁴⁴⁵/
Wenzhou /sei⁴²/
Hui Shexian /ɕi³²⁴/
Tunxi /ɕie⁴²/
/ɕi¹¹/
Xiang Changsha /ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
Xiangtan /ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
Gan Nanchang /sz̩⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /sz̩⁵³/
Taoyuan /ʃï⁵⁵/
Cantonese Guangzhou /sɐi³⁵/
Nanning /sɐi³³/
Hong Kong /sɐi³³/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /se²¹/
/si²¹/
/sua²¹/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /siɛ²¹²/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /si³³/
Shantou (Min Nan) /si²¹³/
Haikou (Min Nan) /ti³⁵/
Rime
Character 世
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 書 (26)
Final (韻) 祭 (35)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 舒制切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɕiᴇiH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɕiɛiH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɕjæiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ɕiajH/
Li
Rong		 /ɕiɛiH/
Wang
Li		 /ɕĭɛiH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ɕi̯ɛiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 shì
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 世
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 shì
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ syejH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*l̥ap-s/
English generation

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 世
Reading # 1/1
No. 11537
Phonetic
component		 世
Rime
group		 蓋
Rime
subdivision		 2
Corresponding
MC rime		 丗
Old
Chinese		 /*hljebs/
Notes 本枼葉初文（文源）

Definitions

世

  1. generation
    世代  ―  shìdài  ―  generation
  2. for many generations; spanning many generations
  3. era; period; time; epoch
  4. dynasty; regime
  5. year; age
  6. Classifier for the time of one's life.
    一生一世  ―  yīshēngyīshì  ―  a lifetime, all of one's life
  7. world; earth; people in the world
    世界  ―  shìjiè  ―  world
  8. worldly; profane; secular
  9. A surname​.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

世

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Counter

世 ‎(hiragana せい, romaji -sei)

  1. generations

Noun

世 ‎(hiragana よ, romaji yo)

  1. world, society
  2. generation, age

Suffix

世 ‎(hiragana せい, romaji -sei)

  1. (geology) epoch

Korean

Hanja

世 • ‎(se)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 세 (revised: se, McCune-Reischauer: se, Yale: sey)
  • Name (hangeul): 인간 (revised: in-gan, McCune-Reischauer: in'gan)
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

Okinawan

Kanji

世

Compounds

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 世 ‎(yo).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /juː/

Noun

世 ‎(hiragana ゆー, romaji yū)

  1. age, era, period, time; rule
  2. world, society

Derived terms

  • アメリカ世 (アメリカゆー, amerikayū): American era or rule over the Okinawan Islands
  • 戦世 (いくさゆー, ikusayū): wartime, war era, war period
  • 大和世 (やまとぅゆー, yamatuyū): Japanese era or rule over the Okinawan Islands

Vietnamese

Han character

世 (thế, thá, thé, thể)

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

References

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