予

予 U+4E88, 予 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E88 ← 亇 [U+4E87] CJK Unified Ideographs 争 → [U+4E89]

Stroke order

予 (Kangxi radical 6, 亅+3, 4 strokes, cangjie input 弓戈弓弓 (NINN), four-corner 1720₂, composition ⿱龴𠄐)

1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №127

• 伃, 㘧, 妤, 㜿, 忬, 抒, 汿, 䦽, 杼, 沀, 㶦, 䂛, 紓 (纾), 野, 舒, 魣 (𮬛), 㐨, 預 (预), 豫, 芧, 序, 㮊

• Kangxi Dictionary: 亅部/三畫 on the Chinese Wikisource.

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 85, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 231
• Dae Jaweon: page 174, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 52, character 2
• Unihan data for U+4E88

Jiajie (假借): originally written as 呂 (OC *ɡ·raʔ), phonetically borrowed for the meanings "I; give". Later, 亅 was added at the bottom as a distinguishing mark and the whole character was heavily stylized. See also 幻.

simp. and trad.		予

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-la (“to pay; to give for”).

予

1. (alt. form 與／与) to give
2. to praise; to esteem

simp. and trad.		予
alternative forms		互 乎 與／与 護／护 付 互 乎 與／与 護／护 付 給／给 呼 後／后 候 𢗝 厚 被 “by” 讓／让 “to allow; to cause” 使 “to cause” 俾 “to cause” 度 Quanzhou

與 (OC *laʔ) is often considered to be the original character (Lin, 1998, 1999; Mei, 2007); Taiwan's Ministry of Education considers the cognate 予 (OC *laʔ) to be the original character. In either case, this would be the same word as etymology 1.

Alternatively, Zhao (1991) argues that this is a Kra-Dai substrate, suggesting a borrowing from Proto-Tai *haɰꟲ (“to give”), whence Zhuang hawj (“to give; to allow”) and Bouyei haec (“to give; to allow”). Note that the Tai word has been connected to Middle Chinese 許 (MC xjoX, “to allow”) (Manomaivibool, 1975). On the other hand, Zheng (2008) considers both the Hokkien word and the Kra-Dai word to be derived from 與.

Assuming 與 to be the etymon, there are also various theories on the development of the h- initial:

• Old Chinese /*ɡl/ → /*ɡ/ → /*ɣ/ → /h/ (Mei, 2007);
• Fricativization of the /*l/ initial in Old Chinese, possibly originating in the Chu dialect (Zheng, 2008);
• /tʰ/ (Quanzhou) → /h/ (other varieties) (Lin, 1998; Zhou, 2006; Taiwan's Ministry of Education).

Sagart (2017c) considers 與 / 与 to be a problematic etymon but agrees with the third theory on the development of h- above. He suggests that a possible trigger for the change from /tʰ/ to /h/ is that /tʰɔ/ is often used with 乞 /kʰit/, allowing /kʰit tʰɔ/ to be reanalysed as /kʰit hɔ/. This etymology was also independently proposed by Lien (2002).

予

1. (Hokkien) to give

   伊予我五箍。 [Hokkien, trad. and simp.]

   I hō͘ góa gō͘ kho͘. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   He gave me five dollars.

2. (Teochew) to deliver; to give
3. (Hokkien) to allow

   予伊去！ [Hokkien]  ―  Hō͘ i khì! [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  Let it go!

4. (Hokkien) to cause; to make
5. (Hokkien, Teochew) by (used in constructing the passive)

   伊予人拍。 [Hokkien]  ―  I hō͘ lâng phah. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  He was beaten up (by someone).

6. (Penang Hokkien) to pay

simp. and trad.		予

Traditionally considered a variant of 余 (OC *la), however Shijing and Chuci rhymes suggests that the expected tone reflex was rising tone, similar to Pronunciation 1 (Mattos, 1971; Pulleyblank, 1995), which corresponds to a glottal stop coda in Old Chinese. It could thus be reanalyzed an emphatic form of the *l- series of first-person pronouns, similar to 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ, “me, us”) compared to 吾 (OC *ŋaː, “I, we”) in the *ŋ- series.

Cognate with 余 (OC *la), 台 (OC *lɯ, “I”), 朕 (OC *l'ɯmʔ). Further etymology is obscure (Schuessler, 2007). Li F. (1976) reconstructs Old Chinese *rag, and compares it to Proto-Tai *rawᴬ (“first person plural pronoun”) > Thai เรา (rao, “we”). However, Schuessler considers this etymon belonging to 兩 (OC *raŋʔ, *raŋs, “both”).

予

1. (obsolete) alternative form of 余 (“I, me”)

   • 予畏上帝，不敢不正。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE

     Yú wèi shàngdì, bù gǎn bù zhèng. [Pinyin]

     As I fear the Heaven, I dare not but punish him.

   • 夫子矢之曰：「予所否者，天厭之！天厭之！」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     夫子矢之曰：「予所否者，天厌之！天厌之！」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Fūzǐ shǐ zhī yuē: “Yú suǒ pǐ zhě, tiān yàn zhī! Tiān yàn zhī!” [Pinyin]

     On which the Master swore, saying, "Wherein I have done improperly, may Heaven reject me! May Heaven reject me!"

2. a surname

For pronunciation and definitions of 予 – see 豫 (“relaxed; comfortable; at ease; etc.”). (This character is the second-round simplified and variant form of 豫).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

For pronunciation and definitions of 予 – see 預 (“beforehand, in advance; to take part in; etc.”). (This character is the second-round simplified form of 預).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

• “予”, 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., 2025.

Shinjitai	予
Kyūjitai	豫

(Third grade kyōiku kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 豫)

1. beforehand, in advance

• Go-on: よ (yo, Jōyō)、しょ (sho)^{←しよ (syo, historical)}、じょ (jo)^{←ぢよ (dyo, historical)}、しゃ (sha)^{←しや (sya, historical)}
• Kan-on: よ (yo, Jōyō)、しょ (sho)^{←しよ (syo, historical)}、ちょ (cho)^{←ちよ (tyo, historical)}
• Kun: あらかじめ (arakajime, 予め)、かねて (kanete, 予て)、かねる (kaneru, 予ねる)

• 予(よ)報(ほう) (yohō)
• 予(よ)約(やく) (yoyaku, “reservation, appointment”)
• 予(よ)定(てい) (yotei, “schedule”)
• 予(よ)感(かん) (yokan)

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

1. I; me
2. to give

• Go-on: よ (yo, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: よ (yo, Jōyō)
• Kun: われ (ware, 予)、あたえる (ataeru, 予える)^{←あたへる (ataferu, 予へる, historical)}、ゆるす (yurusu, 予す)^[1]

• 予(よ)輩(はい) (yohai)

Kanji in this term
予
よ Grade: 3
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
余

From Middle Chinese 予 (MC yo).

• (Tokyo) よ [yóꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [jo̞]

予(よ) • (yo) 

1. first-person personal pronoun; I, me
   • 1802-1814: Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige (volume 1)

     予此街道に毫をはせて膝栗毛の書を著す。

     I, on this highway, in a little while, "Hizakurige"'s lyrics I'll write

   • 1909, Isikawa Takuboku, Romazi Nikki

     Yo wa Sai wo aisiteru; aisiteru kara koso kono Nikki wo yomase taku nai no da.

     I love my Wife; it is precisely because I love her that I do not want her to read this Diary.

Kanji in this term
予
われ Grade: 3
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 予 – see the following entry.

【我われ】6 [pronoun] first person singular pronoun: I, me, oneself [pronoun] (usually vulgar) second person singular pronoun: you Alternative spellings 吾, 余

(This term, 予, is an alternative spelling (rare) of the above term.)

• Asō, Isoji (1958) Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 62: Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

予 (eum 여 (yeo))

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予: Hán Nôm readings: nhừ, dư, dự

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• Nom Foundation