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早

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
早 U+65E9, 早
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-65E9
← 旨
[U+65E8]
CJK Unified Ideographs 旪 →
[U+65EA]

Translingual

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Stroke order
6 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

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早 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+2, 6 strokes, Cangjie input 日十 (AJ), four-corner 60400, composition ⿱日十)

Derived characters

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References

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  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 489, character 12
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13742
  • Dae Jaweon: page 850, character 9
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1483, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+65E9

Chinese

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simp. and trad.
早

Glyph origin

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Historical forms of the character 早
Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Chu slip and silk script Qin slip script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts

Early bronze inscriptions: Pictogram (象形) – acorn. Original form of 皂 (OC *zuːʔ) through an intermediate variant 皁 (once also written as 草 (cǎo)). Borrowed phonetically for "morning" sense.

Late bronze inscriptions: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ʔsuːʔ): semantic 日 (“sun”) + phonetic 棗 (OC *ʔsuːʔ), with 棗 sometimes simplified as 朿.

Small seal script: Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 日 (“sun”) + 甲 (“first”) – when the sun first rises. However, Xu Shen's interpretation is not based on oracle bones and bronzes inscriptions.

In some ancient texts, 蚤 (OC *ʔsuːʔ) was often used instead.

Unrelated to the ancient version of 是: in this character, it doesn't represent an acorn but a spoon.

Etymology

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Possible cognate found in Proto-Hmong-Mien *ntsi̯ouˣ (“early”), whence White Hmong ntxov and Iu Mien nziou (Baxter and Sagart, 2014; Schuessler, 2007), and Proto-Tai *ɟaːwꟲ (“early morning”), whence Thai เช้า (cháao) and Lü ᦋᧁᧉ (tsaw²). Note also similarities to Burmese စော (cau:, “early”).

Pronunciation

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Note:
  • cā - vernacular;
  • cō̤ - literary.
Note:
  • chá - vernacular;
  • chái - vernacular (for certain words);
  • chó͘/chó - literary.
Note:
  • za2 - vernacular;
  • zao2 - literary.

Rime
Character 早
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 精 (13)
Final (韻) 豪 (89)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 子晧切
Baxter tsawX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/t͡sɑuX/
Pan
Wuyun
/t͡sɑuX/
Shao
Rongfen
/t͡sɑuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/t͡sawX/
Li
Rong
/t͡sɑuX/
Wang
Li
/t͡sɑuX/
Bernhard
Karlgren
/t͡sɑuX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
zǎo
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
zou2
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 早
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
zǎo
Middle
Chinese
‹ tsawX ›
Old
Chinese
/*Nə.tsˁuʔ/
English early

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 早
Reading # 1/1
No. 16546
Phonetic
component
早
Rime
group
幽
Rime
subdivision
1
Corresponding
MC rime
早
Old
Chinese
/*ʔsuːʔ/

Definitions

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早

  1. early; in advance; soon
    我醒得很早。  ―  Wǒ xǐng dé hěn zǎo.  ―  I woke up early.
    你能不能早一點來? [MSC, trad.]
    你能不能早一点来? [MSC, simp.]
    Nǐ néng bù néng zǎo yīdiǎn lái? [Pinyin]
    Can you be here a little earlier?
    請問,我今天早走一會兒行嗎? [MSC, trad.]
    请问,我今天早走一会儿行吗? [MSC, simp.]
    Qǐngwèn, wǒ jīntiān zǎo zǒu yīhuìr xíng ma? [Pinyin]
    Please could I leave early today?
    Antonym: 遲 / 迟
  2. long ago; for a long time
    他早走了。  ―  Tā zǎo zǒu le.  ―  He left long ago.
    這個變壓器已經燒毀了,早該拆換一個新的了。 [MSC, trad.]
    这个变压器已经烧毁了,早该拆换一个新的了。 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè ge biànyāqì yǐjīng shāo huǐ le, zǎo gāi chāi huàn yī ge xīn de le. [Pinyin]
    This transformer has burnt out. It should have been replaced a long time ago.
  3. (early) morning
    我今早沒有見到他。 [MSC, trad.]
    我今早没有见到他。 [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ jīn zǎo méi yǒu jiàndào tā. [Pinyin]
    I didn't see him this morning.
  4. good morning
    老師早!/老师早!  ―  Lǎoshī zǎo!  ―  Good morning, teacher!
    Synonym: 早安 (zǎo'ān)
  5. before; in the past time
    現在這麼匆忙,你早幹嗎去了。 [MSC, trad.]
    现在这么匆忙,你早干吗去了。 [MSC, simp.]
    Xiànzài zhème cōngmáng, nǐ zǎo gànmá qù le. [Pinyin]
    So now you are in a hurry. What were you doing before?
  6. short for 早上 (zǎoshang); a.m.
    早八  ―  zǎo bā  ―  8:00 a.m.
  7. (Hainanese) breakfast
  8. a surname

Synonyms

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Compounds

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References

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Japanese

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Kanji

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早

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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Compounds

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Etymology 1

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Kanji in this term
早
はや
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Stem of the adjective 早(はや)い (hayai, “early, quick-witted, fast”). From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *paya.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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早(はや) • (haya) 

  1. already, now
    はや数日(すうじつ)
    haya-sūjitsu
    a few days from now

Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term
早
わさ
Grade: 1
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 早 – see the following entry.
【早稲わさ】
[prefix] maturing early (of crops)
(This term, 早, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

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Etymology

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From Middle Chinese 早 (MC tsawX). Recorded as Middle Korean 조〯 (cwǒ) (Yale: cwo) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

早 (eumhun 일찍 조 (iljjik jo))

  1. hanja form? of 조 (“early”)

Compounds

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References

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  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

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Han character

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早: Hán Việt readings: tảo (子(tử)皓(hạo)切(thiết))[1][2][3][4][5]
早: Nôm readings: tảo[2][4][6], chảo[1], tảu

  1. chữ Hán form of tảo (“early; in advance”)
  2. chữ Hán form of tảo (“morning”)

Compounds

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References

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