叩

叩	U+53E9, 叩 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-53E9

← 叨
[U+53E8]

CJK Unified Ideographs

只 →
[U+53EA]

Translingual

Han character

叩 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 口尸中 (RSL), four-corner 6702₀, composition ⿰口卩)

Derived characters

𮇍, 𬦨, 𭈨, 𰌺, 命, 𠭞, 𦱡, 𭀾, 𬫈, 𬫜, 𮖰

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 172, character 4
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3238
Dae Jaweon: page 382, character 6
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 573, character 3
Unihan data for U+53E9

Chinese

simp. and trad.		叩
alternative forms		敂扣

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (口) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
口	*kʰoːʔ
叩	*kʰoːʔ
扣	kʰoːʔ, kʰoːs
釦	*kʰoːʔ
筘	*kʰoːs

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *kʰoːʔ): phonetic 口 (OC *kʰoːʔ) + semantic 卩. The semantic component 卩 depicts a kneeling human.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): kòu (kou⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄎㄡˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): kau³
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): khàu / khiò
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵kheu

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: kòu
  - Zhuyin: ㄎㄡˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: kòu
  - Wade–Giles: kʻou⁴
  - Yale: kòu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kow
  - Palladius: коу (kou)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰoʊ̯⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: kau³
  - Yale: kau
  - Cantonese Pinyin: kau³
  - Guangdong Romanization: keo³
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɐu̯³³/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khàu / khiò
  - Tâi-lô: khàu / khiò
  - Phofsit Daibuun: qaux, qioix
  - IPA (Xiamen): /kʰau²¹/, /kʰio²¹/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰau⁴¹/, /kʰio⁴¹/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰau²¹/, /kʰio²¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /kʰau¹¹/, /kʰio¹¹/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰau²¹/, /kʰiɤ²¹/

Note: khàu - vernacular, khiò - literary.

Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁵kheu
  - MiniDict: kheu^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²kheu
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /kʰɤ³⁴/

Middle Chinese: khuwX

Rime
Character	叩
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	溪 (29)
Final (韻)	侯 (137)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	苦后切
Baxter	khuwX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kʰəu^X/
Pan Wuyun	/kʰəu^X/
Shao Rongfen	/kʰəu^X/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kʰəw^X/
Li Rong	/kʰu^X/
Wang Li	/kʰəu^X/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kʰə̯u^X/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	kǒu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	hau²

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*kʰˤ(r)oʔ/, /*kʰˤ(r)oʔ-s/

(Zhengzhang): /*kʰoːʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	叩	叩
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	kǒu	kòu
Middle Chinese	‹ khuw^X ›	‹ khuw^H ›
Old Chinese	/*kʰˁ(r)oʔ/	/*kʰˁ(r)oʔ-s/
English	strike	strike (v.)
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	叩
Reading #	1/1
No.	7491
Phonetic component	口
Rime group	侯
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	口
Old Chinese	/*kʰoːʔ/

Definitions

叩

to knock; to strike
to kowtow; to bow
(literary) to enquire; to ask
alternative form of 扣 (kòu, “to hold; to restrain”)
a surname

Compounds

三跪九叩 (sānguìjiǔkòu)
以莛叩鐘 / 以莛叩钟
叩人心弦
叩叩
叩應 / 叩应 (kòuyìng)
叩拜 (kòubài)
叩見 / 叩见
叩謝 / 叩谢 (kòuxiè)
叩門 / 叩门 (kòumén)
叩閽 / 叩阍
叩關 / 叩关
叩頭 / 叩头 (kòutóu)
叩頭蟲 / 叩头虫 (kòutóuchóng)
叩首 (kòushǒu)
叩馬 / 叩马
叩齒 / 叩齿
瀝血叩心 / 沥血叩心
稟叩 / 禀叩
線上叩應 / 线上叩应
號天叩地 / 号天叩地

References

(Min Nan) “叩”, 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.

Japanese

Kanji

叩

(Hyōgai kanji)

to knock; to strike

Readings

Go-on: く (ku)^{←く (ku, historical)}
Kan-on: こう (kō)^{←こう (kou, historical)}
Kun: たたく (tataku, 叩く)、はたく (hataku, 叩く)

Compounds

叩(こう)解(かい) (kōkai)
叩(こう)首(しゅ) (kōshu)
叩(こう)打(だ) (kōda)
叩(こう)頭(とう) (kōtō)
叩(こう)扉(ひ) (kōhi)

Korean

Hanja

叩 • (go) (hangeul 고, revised go, McCune–Reischauer ko)

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

Miyako

Kanji

叩

(Hyōgai kanji)

Readings

Kun: たたきぃ (tataksï, 叩きぃ)

Okinawan

Kanji

叩

(Hyōgai kanji)

Readings

Kun: たたちゅん (tatachun, 叩ちゅん)

Vietnamese

Han character

叩: Hán Nôm readings: khấu

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

Yaeyama

Kanji

叩

(Hyōgai kanji)

Readings

Kun: たたぐん (tatagun, 叩ぐん)