更

Stroke order

更 (Kangxi radical 73, 曰+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 一中田大 (MLWK), four-corner 1050₆, composition ⿱一⿻日乂)

• 便 哽 埂 㛐 峺 挭 浭 㹴 䢚 𣆳 梗 硬 稉 粳 綆(绠) 𧣲 鞕 骾 鯁(鲠)
• 郠 𫨨 甦 𦑃 㬲 莄 筻 㾘

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 502, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14283
• Dae Jaweon: page 874, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 20, character 2
• Unihan data for U+66F4

• Unihan data for U+F901

Historical forms of the character 更
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Originally an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) , showing two chariots (丙). Later 攴 was added and a 丙 omitted to create the form seen in the Shuowen Jiezi (㪅), a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kraːŋ, *kraːŋs) : abbreviated phonetic 𰀒 (, “two chariots”) + semantic 攴 (“hand holding a whip; action”). The remaining 丙 eventually corrupted into a shape similar to 雨.

更

1. to change; to replace

   • 子貢曰：「君子之過也，如日月之食焉。過也，人皆見之；更也，人皆仰之。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子贡曰：「君子之过也，如日月之食焉。过也，人皆见之；更也，人皆仰之。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE

     Zǐgòng yuē: “Jūnzǐ zhī guò yě, rú rìyuè zhī shí yān. Guò yě, rén jiē jiàn zhī; gēng yě, rén jiē yǎng zhī.” [Pinyin]

     Zigong said, "A junzi’s mistakes are like solar and lunar eclipses. When he makes a mistake, all people see it; when he changes, all people look up to him.

2. to take turns; to rotate
3. to experience
4. 28th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "change" (𝌡)

更

1. (historical) watch (of a sentry)

   三更  ―  sāngèng  ―  third watch

2. (historical) one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided
3. (Hong Kong Cantonese, by extension) shift; work shift; work period

   一日三更，每更八個鐘。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   一日三更，每更八个钟。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   jat¹ jat⁶ saam¹ gaang¹, mui⁵ gaang¹ baat³ go³ zung¹. [Jyutping]

   [There are] three shifts each day, eight hours each shift.

更

1. more; even more

   我的裙子更漂亮！ [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Wǒ de qúnzi gèng piàoliang! [Pinyin]

   My skirt is even more beautiful!

   加拿大的房子比美國的更貴。 [MSC, trad.]
   加拿大的房子比美国的更贵。 [MSC, simp.]

   Jiānádà de fángzi bǐ Měiguó de gèng guì. [Pinyin]

   Canadian homes are even more expensive than American homes.

   • 1995, 《回魂夜》 [Out of the Dark]‎^[1], spoken by Leon (周星馳 [Stephen Chow]):

     如果想練習點克服恐懼就要靠呢枝「電光棒」。大家望一望，條引咁長明知點著咗佢有排先爆㗎，但係要你揸住佢呢就更大膽都淆底嘅，但係我唔瀉佢喎！ [Hong Kong Cantonese, trad.]
     如果想练习点克服恐惧就要靠呢枝「电光棒」。大家望一望，条引咁长明知点著咗佢有排先爆㗎，但系要你揸住佢呢就更大胆都淆底嘅，但系我唔泻佢㖞！ [Hong Kong Cantonese, simp.]

     jyu⁴ gwo² soeng² lin⁶ zaap⁶ dim² haak¹ fuk⁶ hung² geoi⁶ zau⁶ jiu³ kaau³ ni¹ zi¹ “din⁶ gwong¹ paang⁵”. daai⁶ gaa¹ mong⁶ jat¹ mong⁶, tiu⁴ jan⁵ gam³ coeng⁴ ming⁴ zi¹ dim² zoek⁶ zo² keoi⁵ jau⁵ paai⁴ sin¹ baau³ gaa³, daan⁶ hai⁶ jiu³ nei⁵ zaa¹ zyu⁶ keoi⁵ ne¹ zau⁶ ang³ daai⁶ daam² dou¹ ngaau⁴ dai² ge³, daan⁶ hai⁶ ngo⁵ m⁴ se³ keoi⁵ wo³! [Jyutping]

     If you want to practise overcoming fear, you have to rely on this "glow stick". Look at it, with such a long fuse, obviously it takes a long time to explode, but if you are asked to hold this, you will still chicken out no matter how brave you are. Even then, I'm not scared of it!

2. (literary or Hong Kong) further; also

• → Vietnamese: càng

更

1. (Nanning Pinghua) so, to such an extent

• (Min Nan) “Entry #3228”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. grow late
2. night watch
3. of course
4. renew

• Go-on: きょう (kyō)^{←きやう (kyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←かう (kau, historical)}
• Kun: さら (sara, 更, Jōyō)、ふかす (fukasu, 更かす, Jōyō)、ふける (fukeru, 更ける, Jōyō)、あらためる (aratameru, 更める)

• 変更(へんこう) (henkō)
• 更新(こうしん) (kōshin)

• (Tokyo) こー [kóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ko̞ː]

更(こう) • (kō) ^{←かう (kau)?}

1. one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was divided in ancient China

From Middle Chinese 更 (MC kaengH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kɛ(ː)ŋ] ~ [ke̞(ː)ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [갱(ː)/겡(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

 

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

更

Wikisource

更 (eumhun 다시 갱 (dasi gaeng))

1. hanja form^? of 갱 (“again”)

From Middle Chinese 更 (MC kaeng).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kjʌ̹ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [경]

更 (eumhun 고칠 경 (gochil gyeong))

1. hanja form^? of 경 (“to change; to fix”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [4]

更: Hán Việt readings: canh^[1][2][3], cánh^[1][3]
更: Nôm readings: canh^[1][2][3], cánh^[1][2], cành^[1], gánh^[2], ngạnh^[3]

1. chữ Hán form of canh (“to watch; to guard”).