或

或 (Kangxi radical 62, 戈+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 戈口一 (IRM), four-corner 5310₀, composition ⿹戈⿱口㇀)

• 䬎 (𬱿), 魊, 㰲, 惑, 㳼, 䰥, 㚜, 窢, 罭, 䈅, 䍞, 閾 (阈), 國 (国), 彧
• 㖪, 域, 惐, 掝, 淢, 䧕, 棫, 琙, 㽣, 䂸, 稢, 緎 (𰬟), 聝, 蜮, 戫, 馘, 䤋, 䮙, 䱛 (𮬟)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 412, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 11563
• Dae Jaweon: page 754, character 17
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1402, character 8
• Unihan data for U+6216

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 戈 (“dagger-axe (used to defend the territory)”) + 囗 (“city wall”) + 一, “territory”. The most ancient version is 戓, then modified into 或; the stroke was added perhaps when the pronunciation of the character evolved.

Borrowed for abstract meanings. The derivative 國 (OC *kʷɯːɡ), 域 (OC *ɢʷrɯɡ), and perhaps 淢 refer to the original word. The last character can be seen in the ancient name of the Han river, 㵄.

或 (OC *ɡʷɯːɡ, “someone; some”) is the result of the distributive suffix *-k being added to 有 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, “there is”).

Cognate with 又 (OC *ɢʷɯs, “again”) (Schuessler, 2007).

或

1. or; either ... or ... (used to list alternatives)

   中國或日本／中国或日本  ―  Zhōngguó huò Rìběn  ―  China or Japan

   或多或少  ―  huòduōhuòshǎo  ―  more or less, some amount

   可以說兩種或兩種以上的語言 [MSC, trad.]
   可以说两种或两种以上的语言 [MSC, simp.]

   kěyǐ shuō liǎng zhǒng huò liǎng zhǒng yǐshàng de yǔyán [Pinyin]

   able to speak two or more languages

2. (literary, including in news headlines) perhaps; maybe
   • 1046 October 17, 范仲淹 [Fan Zhongyan], 岳陽樓記 [Memorial to Yueyang Tower]:

     嗟夫！予嘗求古仁人之心，或異二者之為。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     嗟夫！予尝求古仁人之心，或异二者之为。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     Jiēfū! Yǔ cháng qiú gǔ rénrén zhī xīn, huò yì èr zhě zhī wèi. [Pinyin]

     Alas! I once investigated the thoughts of the ancient sages, they were perhaps different from the behaviour of the two.

   代表團已出發，明天上午或可到達。 [MSC, trad.]
   代表团已出发，明天上午或可到达。 [MSC, simp.]

   Dàibiǎotuán yǐ chūfā, míngtiān shàngwǔ huò kě dàodá. [Pinyin]

   The delegation has set out, and will probably arrive tomorrow morning.

3. occasionally; sometimes
4. if; assuming; should ...
5. (logic, computing) OR; inclusive or
6. particle used in negative sentences to reinforce the negative tone
7. (literary) some; someone; something

   • 齊人伐燕，勝之。宣王問曰：「或謂寡人勿取，或謂寡人取之。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     齐人伐燕，胜之。宣王问曰：「或谓寡人勿取，或谓寡人取之。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Qí rén fá yàn, shèng zhī. Xuān wáng wèn yuē: “Huò wèi guǎrén wù qǔ, huò wèi guǎrén qǔ zhī.” [Pinyin]

     Qi attacked Yan, conquering it. King Xuan said: "Some people tell me not to take it [Yan] for myself; some tell me to take it".

8. Ancient form of 惑 (huò, “doubt”)

或

1. Original form of 域 (yù, “range; territory”).
2. Original form of 國／国 (guó, “country”).

• Jing-Schmidt, Zhuo, Peng, Xinjia (1 February 2016) “The emergence of disjunction: A history of constructionalization in Chinese”, in Cognitive Linguistics‎^[1], volume 27, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 101–136.

• “或”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• 李如龙 [Li, Ru-long], 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu], 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying], 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019) “或”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 264.
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “或”, in 长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou: 世界图书出版有限公司 [World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.], →ISBN, page 187.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

1. a certain ...; some ...​

• Go-on: わく (waku)
• Kan-on: こく (koku)
• Kun: ある (aru, 或る)、あるいは (arui wa, 或るいは)

或 • (hok) (hangeul 혹, revised hok, McCune–Reischauer hok, Yale hok)

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

或: Hán Nôm readings: hoặc, hoắc

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