U+5979, 她
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5979

[U+5978]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+597A]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(Kangxi radical 38, 女+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 女心木 (VPD), four-corner 44412, composition )

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 255, character 5
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6046
  • Dae Jaweon: page 518, character 5
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1029, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+5979

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声): semantic (female, woman) + phonetic (OC *laːlʔ).

Originally a variant of (jiě, “elder sister”). Later repurposed as a feminine third-person pronoun influenced by European languages, with the glyph being the result of replacing the (rén, person) radical in () with (woman). Linguist Liu Bannong is credited with coining this use around the 1910s, in turn replacing a precursor form of in print (Bi, 2013).

Etymology 1

For pronunciation and definitions of – see (“elder sister; woman; lady; madame; etc.”).
(This character is a variant form of ).

Etymology 2

trad.
simp. #

Pronunciation


Note:
  • thaⁿ/tha - vernacular;
  • tho - literary.
  • Wu
    • (Northern: Shanghai)
      • Wugniu: 1ta
      • MiniDict: ta
      • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): 1ta
      • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ta⁵³/

Definitions

  1. she, her [from 1910s]
      ―  qù le.  ―  She went away.
    認識认识  ―  Wǒ rènshi .  ―  I know her.
Usage notes
  • Occasionally, () may be used for both genders.

See also

No major Chinese language distinguishes between “he”, “she” and “it” in spoken form, and Mandarin () is the only instance where such a distinction is made in written form. Thus see the table below for words for “she” in other varieties of Chinese.

Standard Mandarin Chinese personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person () 我們我们 (wǒmen)
inclusive 咱們咱们 (zánmen)
2nd person male/indefinite () 你們你们 (nǐmen)
female () 妳們你们 (nǐmen)
deity () 祢們祢们 (nǐmen)
polite (nín) 你們你们 (nǐmen)
您們您们 (nínmen)
3rd person male/indefinite () 他們他们 (tāmen)
female () 她們她们 (tāmen)
deity () 祂們祂们 (tāmen)
polite (tān) 他們他们 (tāmen)
怹們怹们 (tānmen)
animal () 牠們它们 (tāmen)
inanimate () 它們它们 (tāmen)
  • (, “(feminine) you”)

Compounds

Etymology 3

trad.
simp. #

Pronunciation


Definitions

  1. (Hokkien) alternative form of (i, she, her)

Japanese

Kanji

(Hyōgai kanji)

  1. she, her

Readings

  • On (unclassified): (chi) (ji)しゃ (sha) (ta) (i)
  • Kun: あざる (azaru, 她る)

Vietnamese

Han character

: Hán Nôm readings: tha

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