亞

亞 (Kangxi radical 7, 二+6, 8 strokes, cangjie input 一中中一 (MLLM), four-corner 1010₇, composition ⿴二⿰⿳丨一𠃑⿳𠃑一丨)

1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №506

• 俹, 啞, 埡, 婭, 孲, 𡹄, 𢛟, 掗, 𣵾, 椏, 𤦩, 𦜖, 𥏝, 䃁, 稏, 𥺼, 𦩒, 𠼞, 䛩, 𨁶, 錏, 𩜄, 𩤃, 𩩤, 𩸋, 䢝, 𩗽
• 㝞, 𦲕, 𥦳, 𠨣, 壼, 𥮳, 𠁏, 𠆊, 𠁕, 𩭯, 𢑹, 𡱻, 𢩔, 瘂, 氬, 堊, 𡹅, 惡, 𣇩, 𤊗, 琧, 𤲢, 蝁, 𣉩, 𩸖, 𠁐, 閸, 𡈀, 𬘃
• 𠜲, 𣂪, 㰳, 𫡷, 𤲾, 𩓩, 𬪿, 𩸇, 鵶, 𣛽, 𥉢, 𧓥, 𠠇, 斵, 𧢗, 𣤼

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 87, character 13
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 274
• Dae Jaweon: page 183, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 23, character 2
• Unihan data for U+4E9E

Historical forms of the character 亞
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script   j29651   j29652   j29653   j29654   j29655   j29656   j29657   j29658   j29659   j29660   j29661   j29662   j29663   j29664   j29665   j29666   j29667   j29668   j29669   j29670   j29671   j29672   j29673   j29674   j29675   j29676   j29677   j29678   j29679   j29680   j29681   j29682   j29683   j29684   j29685   j29686   j29687   j29688   j29689   j29690   j29691   j29692   j29693   j29694   j29695   j29696   j29697   j29698   j29699   j29700   j29701   j29702   j29703   j29704   j29705   j29706   j29707   j29708   j29709   j29710   j29711   j29712   j29713   j29714   j29715   j29716   j29717   j29718   j29719   j29720   j29721   j29722   j29723   j29724   j29725   j29726   j29727   j29728   j29729   j29730   j29731 Bronze inscriptions   b19832   b19833   b19834   b19835   b19836   b19837   b19838   b19839   b19840   b19841   b19842   b19843   b19844   b19845   b19846   b19847   b19848   b19849   b19850   b19851   b19852   b19853   b19854 Small seal script   s10917 Transcribed ancient scripts   L36894   L23820   L23821   L23822   L23823   L23824   L23825   L23826   L23827
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Pictogram (象形) : an overhead view of a construction, likely a 亞-shaped tomb. Perhaps borrowed phonetically to mean "second; inferior".

Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔrak (“inferior; dependent”), whence Tibetan རག (rag, “to depend on; subject; subservient; dependent”) (Bodman, 1980; Coblin, 1986).

Karlgren (1957) connects it to 惡 (OC *qaːɡ, “evil”), but Schuessler (2007) considers this to be unlikely due to the semantics.

The shangsheng pronunciation in Mandarin (yǎ) is a result of influence from the pronunciation of 啞／哑 (yǎ), whose written form contains 亞 as a component (Fu, 1958).

亞

1. ^† a house (four walls & windows, seen from above)
2. second; inferior

   亞軍／亚军  ―  yàjūn  ―  second place

   不亞於／不亚于  ―  bù yàyú  ―  not inferior to

3. ^† Alternative form of 婭／娅
4. a surname

亞

1. Used in transcription.

   亞美尼亞／亚美尼亚  ―  Yàměiníyà  ―  Armenia

   哥倫比亞／哥伦比亚  ―  Gēlúnbǐyà  ―  Colombia

   薩摩亞／萨摩亚  ―  Sàmóyà  ―  Samoa

   亞格拉／亚格拉  ―  Yàgélā  ―  Agra

   亞琛／亚琛  ―  Yàchēn  ―  Aachen

   亞眠／亚眠  ―  Yàmián  ―  Amiens

   亞當／亚当  ―  Yàdāng  ―  Adam

   亞氏保加症／亚氏保加症  ―  Yàshìbǎojiāzhèng  ―  Asperger syndrome

   1. (～洲) Short for 亞細亞／亚细亚 (Yàxìyà, “Asia”).

      東亞／东亚  ―  Dōngyà  ―  East Asia

      亞裔／亚裔  ―  yàyì  ―  Asian (ethnicity)

      亞太地區／亚太地区  ―  Yàtài dìqū  ―  Asia-Pacific

亞

1. (chiefly dialectal) Alternative form of 阿 (“kinship prefix”)

亞

1. (Nanning Pinghua) this

   亞件衫／亚件衫 [Nanning Pinghua]  ―  aa³ gyun⁶ saam¹ [Jyutping++]  ―  this shirt

• “亞”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00057

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 亜)

1. rank
2. follow
3. sub- prefix

• Go-on: え (e)
• Kan-on: あ (a)、あつ (atsu)、おう (ō)
• Kun: つぎ (tsugi, 亞ぎ)、つぐ (tsugu, 亞ぐ)

• 旧字体 (kyūjitai) old form character
• Also used phonetically for あ (a)

From Middle Chinese 亞 (MC 'aeH).

• (phonetic element in transliterations):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [a̠]
  • Phonetic hangul: [아]
• (second; sub-; ranking next; etc.):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [a̠(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [아(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

 

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

亞

Wikisource

亞 (eumhun 버금 아 (beogeum a))

1. hanja form^? of 아 (“second; sub-”)
2. hanja form^? of 아 (“ranking next; coming after”)
3. hanja form^? of 아 (“Asia (abbreviation)”)
4. hanja form^? of 아 (“used as a prefix to names”)

亞 • (A) (hangeul 아)

1. (in headlines) Short for 亞細亞아세아 (Asea, “Asia”).

A common convention in news headlines, this is almost always written solely in the Hanja form, even in contemporary Korean text otherwise devoid of any Hanja.

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

亞: Hán Nôm readings: á, a

1. Asia
2. Asiatic

• Nom Foundation
• Chunom.org