夫

夫 U+592B, 夫 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-592B ← 太 [U+592A] CJK Unified Ideographs 夬 → [U+592C]

Stroke order

夫 (Kangxi radical 37, 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 手人 (QO), four-corner 5003₀, composition ⿻二人 or ⿻一大)

• 替 賛 (top simplified from 竝 and 兟)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 248, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5835
• Dae Jaweon: page 507, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 521, character 1
• Unihan data for U+592B

simp. and trad.		夫

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 大 (“man”) + 一 (“hairpin”) – a man with a hairpin in his hair.

In ancient times, when men reached the age of 20, they bound their hair with a hairpin during the Guan Li ceremony. The hairpin is the sign of “a grownup man”.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pa (“male”). Do not confuse this with 父 (OC *paʔ, *baʔ, “father”).

夫

1. male adult; man

   • 維此奄息，百夫之特。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     维此奄息，百夫之特。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Wéi cǐ Yǎnxī, bǎifū zhī tè. [Pinyin]

     And this Yansi,
     Was a man above a hundred.

   • 劍閣崢嶸而崔嵬，一夫當關，萬夫莫開。 [MSC, trad.]
     剑阁峥嵘而崔嵬，一夫当关，万夫莫开。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: c. early 8th century, Li Bai (李白), 蜀道難. Translated into the English as The Steep Road to Shuh by Shigeyoshi Obata (小畑薫良), 1922.

     Jiàngé zhēngróng ér cuīwéi, yī fū dāng guān, wàn fū mò kāi. [Pinyin]

     The gate of the Sword Parapet stands firm on its frightful height.
     One man defending it, a thousand men could not break it open.

2. husband

   前夫  ―  qiánfū  ―  ex-husband

   夫婦／夫妇  ―  fūfù  ―  married couple

3. manual worker

   農夫／农夫  ―  nóngfū  ―  peasant

   漁夫／渔夫  ―  yúfū  ―  fisherman

4. conscripted laborer

• → Proto-Southwestern Tai: *pʰuəᴬ
  • Thai: ผัว (pǔua, “husband”)

“That”. Schuessler (2007) connects this with Proto-Loloish *m-ba (“on the other side”), Tibetan ཕ (pha, “beyond, farther on, onward”). Maybe related to 彼 (OC *pralʔ, “that”). Pulleyblank (1995) relates the introductory particle sense with 凡 (OC *bom).

In the sense "is it not?", probably a contraction of 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ') and 乎 (OC *ɢaː) (Pulleyblank, 1995, p. 145).

夫

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) A generic personal pronoun – he; she; it; they.
2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) A generic demonstrative pronoun – this; that; these; those.

   • 夫人不言，言必有中。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad. and simp.]

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

     Fú rén bù yán, yán bì yǒu zhòng. [Pinyin]

     This man seldom speaks; when he does, he is sure to hit the point.

   • 微夫人之力不及此。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad. and simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Wēi fú rén zhī lì bù jí cǐ. [Pinyin]

     Without that person's support, I would not be who I am today.

3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Sentence-initial particle which introduces a topic.

   • 夫將者，國之輔也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     夫将者，国之辅也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Art of War, circa 5^th century BCE

     Fú jiàng zhě, guó zhī fǔ yě. [Pinyin]

     The general is the country's defense.

4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Sentence-final particle, meaning “Is it not?”.

   • 子在川上，曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍晝夜。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     子在川上，曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍昼夜。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

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

     Zǐ zài chuān shàng, yuē: “Shìzhěrúsī fú! Bù shè zhòuyè.” [Pinyin]

     The Master standing by a stream, said, "It passes on just like this, not ceasing day or night!"

5. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Meaningless particle in the middle of a sentence.

For pronunciation and definitions of 夫 – see 伕. (This character is the second-round simplified form of 伕).

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

Short for 夫佬 (fu¹ lou²).

夫

1. (Cantonese, informal, card games) full house

• “夫”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[4], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. man
2. husband
3. that, those

• Go-on: ふ (fu, Jōyō)、ぶ (bu)
• Kan-on: ふ (fu, Jōyō)
• Kan’yō-on: ふう (fū, Jōyō ^†)
• Kun: おっと (otto, 夫, Jōyō)^{←をつと (wotuto, をつと, historical)}、それ (sore, 夫れ)
• Nanori: お (o)、と (to)、ゆう (yū)、よ (yo)

Kanji in this term
夫
おっと Grade: 4
kun'yomi

Shift from older unattested 男人 (wofito), synchronically analyzable as a compound of 男 (wo → o, “male, man”) +‎ 人 (fito → hito, “person”).^[1][2][3]

Ultimately from Proto-Japonic *wopitə, with many Ryukyuan cognates.

First attested in roughly 1220.^[1]

• (Tokyo) おっと [òttó] (Heiban – [0])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [o̞t̚to̞]

夫(おっと) • (otto) ^{←をつと (wotuto)?}

1. [from 1220] husband

Kanji in this term
夫
つま Grade: 4
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
妻

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Kojiki of 712.^[6]

Cognate with 端 (tsuma, “edge, side of something”), from the sense of "person by one's side".^[6][2]

Generally spelled 夫 in reference to a husband and 妻 in reference to a wife.

• (Tokyo) つま [tsúꜜmà] (Atamadaka – [1])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨma̠]

夫(つま) • (tsuma) 

1. [from 712] spouse, consort

   Coordinate terms: 妻 (tsuma, “wife”), 夫 (otto, “husband”)

In modern usage, the term tsuma is usually reserved for the sense wife, and is therefore spelled 妻 in kanji, while husband is usually expressed using the term 夫 (otto).^[5]

Kanji in this term
夫
お Grade: 4
kun'yomi

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

【雄お】S [noun] (obsolete in isolation) man, male [noun] (obsolete) husband [noun] something large, powerful, or otherwise masculine [noun] yang (as opposed to yin) Alternative spellings 男, 牡

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

From Middle Chinese 夫 (MC pju). Recorded as Middle Korean 부 (pwu) (Yale: pwu) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource

夫 (eumhun 사나이 부 (sanai bu))

1. hanja form^? of 부 (“man; husband”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [5]

夫: Hán Nôm readings: phu

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