Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

器 (radical 30 口+13 in Chinese, 口+12 in Japanese, in Chinese 16 strokes, in Japanese 15 strokes, cangjie input 口口戈大口 (RRIKR), four-corner 6666₃, composition ⿱哭吅)

References

• KangXi: page 210, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4349
• Dae Jaweon: page 432, character 26
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 690, character 7
• Unihan data for U+5668

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 器
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Uncertain.

Possibly an ideogrammic compound (會意) : a 犬 (“dog”) guarding four 口 (“vessel”) – containers, or a phonetically borrowed character for the modern meanings with the original meaning being “to bark” (Compare 狺).

Pronunciation

Definitions

器

1. device; tool; utensil; ware

   器具  ―  qìjù  ―  utensil

2. (medicine) organ

   器官  ―  qìguān  ―  organ

3. capacity; tolerance

   器量  ―  qìliàng  ―  tolerance

4. talent; ability

   大器晚成  ―  dàqìwǎnchéng  ―  [idiom] A great talent takes time to mature.

5. (literary) to think highly of

   器重  ―  qìzhòng  ―  to regard highly

Compounds

Descendants

• → Korean: 그릇 (geureut, “receptacle; bowl; capacity; tolerance”) (Pan, 2006)

Japanese

Ryakuji for 器.

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: き (ki)
• Kan’on: き (ki)
• Kun: うつわ (utsuwa)

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 器 ‎(khij^H, “vessel; instrument”).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): [kʲi]
• When used as a suffix, the resulting term has a downstep either right before, or one mora before, the ki.

• If the preceding syllable has only one mora (as in ga or tsu), the downstep occurs just after that mora:

瓦器 ‎(“unglazed earthenware”): が​き [gáꜜkì]

空気予熱器 ‎(kūki yonetsuki, “air pre-heater”): くうきよねつ​き [kùúkí yónétsúꜜkì]

• If the preceding syllable has two morae (as in zen or tei), the downstep occurs between the two morae:

安全器 ‎(anzenki, “safety cut-out”): あんぜ​んき [àńzéꜜǹkì]

円弧測定器 ‎(enko sokuteiki, “cyclometer”): えんこそくて​いき [èńkó sókútéꜜèkì]

Affix

器 ‎(hiragana き, romaji ki)

1. device, instrument
2. container, vessel

Usage notes

Often used interchangeably with 機 ‎(ki) in compounds to indicate “machine”, with the subtlety that 器 implies a smaller device, perhaps hand-held, while 機 implies a larger machine, such as an airplane. Compare 食器 ‎(shokki, “tableware”) and 飛行機 ‎(hikōki, “airplane”), or homophones 機械 ‎(kikai, “machine”, generally larger) and 器械 ‎(kikai, “machine, tool”, generally smaller).

Derived terms

Suffix

器 ‎(hiragana き, romaji -ki)

1. device, instrument

Usage notes

Can attach to various nouns that can be used as verbs, to indicate a device for carrying out the action. Examples:

• 計量 ‎(keiryō, “measurement, measuring, gauging”) + 器 ‎(-ki) = 計量器 ‎(keiryōki, “a measuring device, a gauge”)
• 尿 ‎(nyō, “urine”) + 器 ‎(-ki) = 尿器 ‎(nyōki, “urinal”)
• 印字 ‎(inji, “print, type”, literally “stamp + character”) + 器 ‎(-ki) = 印字器 ‎(injiki, “a printer”, a smaller device, such as a handheld number and letter puncher)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

/ut͡supa/ → /ut͡suɸa/ → /ut͡suwa/

From Old Japanese.^[1] Cognate with 空 ‎(utsuo, ancient utsupo, utsubo), signifying a hollowness. Appears to be a compound of 空, 内 ‎(utsu, “hollow”, combining form, standalone form uchi, “inside”) + は ‎(ha). The derivation of this ha element is unclear.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) うつわ [ùtsúwá] (Heiban - [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ɯᵝt͡sɯᵝɰᵝa̠]

Noun

器 ‎(hiragana うつわ, romaji utsuwa, historical hiragana うつは)

1. container, vessel
2. a tool, a utensil
3. one's degree of ability: talent, caliber
4. female genitalia: a ****

Derived terms

Synonyms

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

Korean

Hanja

器 • ‎(gi) (hangeul 기, McCune-Reischauer ki)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

器 (khí)

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