Chinese Character Wiki
癸

guǐ

10th heavenly stem

Original meaning: 

a type of weapon

Possibly depicts a type of ancient weapon with three points on it. Based on the original meaning "a type of weapon", now written as 戣. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Evolution

癸 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
癸 Bronze script Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
癸 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
癸 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
癸 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

癸  

guǐ

10th heavenly stem; tenth of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shí​tiān​gān]; tenth in order; letter "J" or Roman "X" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc; ancient Chinese compass point: 15°; deca

Most common words with 癸
Freq.
Word
Meaning

癸

deca

癸卯

fortieth year J4 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 1963 or 2023

癸未

twentieth year J8 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 2003 or 2063

癸丑

fiftieth year J2 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 1973 or 2033

癸酉

tenth year J10 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 1993 or 2053

Component uses

Sound component in 5 characters (1 verified)

葵 睽 揆 阕 暌

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*kʷijʔ

kjwijX

guǐ

10th heavenly stem


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

4414th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

9

Unicode

U+7678

Shuowen

“癸，冬時水土平，可揆度也。象水從四方流入地中之形。癸承壬，象人足。，籀文从癶，从矢。”
Sources

季旭昇《說文新證》p.969-970

何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》p.1189



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