曹

See also: 曺

曹	U+66F9, 曹 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-66F9

← 書
[U+66F8]

CJK Unified Ideographs

曺 →
[U+66FA]

Translingual

Han character

曹 (Kangxi radical 73, 曰+7, 11 strokes, cangjie input 廿田日 (TWA), four-corner 5560₆, composition ⿱⿻一曲曰)

Derived characters

傮嘈㜖嶆㡟慒槽漕㷮𥕢䄚糟䏆䐬艚螬褿䜊蹧醩鏪鰽(𫚧) 遭蓸𡐋𢲵𣉿𣩒𤗰𤡐𥀛𭿕𦄧(𬘿) 𨎝𩞄(𩠎) 𮮁𪙡𩆦𬟠𩘳𪯓𡮦𣍖𥲍𦋿𧕐

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 502, character 13
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14297
Dae Jaweon: page 876, character 3
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1511, character 6
Unihan data for U+66F9

Chinese

simp. and trad.		曹
alternative forms		曺㯥𣍘

Glyph origin

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

Characters in the same phonetic series (曹) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
遭	*ʔsluː
糟	*ʔsluː
醩	*ʔsluːu
傮	*ʔsluː
槽	ʔsluː, zluː
曹	*zluː
螬	*zluː
漕	zluː, zluːs
嘈	*zluː
艚	*zluː
褿	*zluː
蓸	*zluː
慒	lju, zluːŋ

Originally 㯥 (cáo), an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : two bundles 東 on top. The original meaning is "pair; peer, same kind". Later, 囗 was added as a distinguishing mark, which corrupted into 甘 in bronze inscriptions and 曰 in Seal Script, thus getting the intermediate and semi-archaic version 𣍘. The top two 東 have merged and now resemble 曲 with an extra stroke.

Unrelated to 曲 and 典.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): cáo (cao²)

(Zhuyin): ㄘㄠˊ
Cantonese
(Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): cou⁴

(Taishan, Wiktionary): tau³
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): chhò

(Meixian, Guangdong): cau²
Northern Min (KCR): cǎu
Eastern Min (BUC): cò̤
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): chô / chô͘

(Teochew, Peng'im): cao⁵
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶zau

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: cáo
  - Zhuyin: ㄘㄠˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: cáo
  - Wade–Giles: tsʻao²
  - Yale: tsáu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsaur
  - Palladius: цао (cao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɑʊ̯³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: cou⁴
  - Yale: chòuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: tsou⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: cou⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰou̯²¹/
- (Taishanese, Taicheng)
  - Wiktionary: tau³
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰau²²/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: chhò
  - Hakka Romanization System: co^ˇ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: co²
  - Sinological IPA: /t͡sʰo¹¹/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: cau²
  - Sinological IPA: /t͡sʰau¹¹/
Northern Min
- (Jian'ou)
  - Kienning Colloquial Romanized: cǎu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sau²¹/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: cò̤
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡so⁵³/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chô
  - Tâi-lô: tsô
  - Phofsit Daibuun: zooi
  - IPA (Taipei, Xiamen): /t͡so²⁴/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /t͡sɤ²³/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡so¹³/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chô͘
  - Tâi-lô: tsôo
  - Phofsit Daibuun: zoo
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /t͡sɔ²⁴/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: cao⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tshâu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰau⁵⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁶zau
  - MiniDict: zau^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³zau
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /zɔ²³/

Middle Chinese: dzaw

Rime
Character	曹
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	從 (15)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	昨勞切
Baxter	dzaw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/d͡zɑu/
Pan Wuyun	/d͡zɑu/
Shao Rongfen	/d͡zɑu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/d͡zaw/
Li Rong	/d͡zɑu/
Wang Li	/d͡zɑu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/d͡zʱɑu/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	cáo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	cou⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*N-tsˤu/

(Zhengzhang): /*zluː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	曹
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	cáo
Middle Chinese	‹ dzaw ›
Old Chinese	/*N-tsˁu/
English	come together; pair
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	曹
Reading #	1/1
No.	1154
Phonetic component	曹
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	曹
Old Chinese	/*zluː/
Notes	金文下非曰字，上從二東，象列置衆種子之器，乃槽初文

Definitions

曹

^† plaintiff and defendant
^† division department of the central government in ancient times
^† official
^† group
(literary) people of the same kind
爾曹／尔曹 ― ěrcáo ― you all
(historical) Cao, a vassal state in China during the Zhou Dynasty (1046–221 BCE), covering roughly the area of modern-day Dingtao County in Heze, southwestern Shandong province
a surname
曹操 ― Cáo Cāo ― Cao Cao

Compounds

References

(Min Nan) “Entry #41170”, 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.

Japanese

Kanji

曹

(Jōyō kanji)

cadet
friend

Readings

Go-on: ぞう (zō)^{←ざう (zau, historical)}
Kan-on: そう (sō, Jōyō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
Kun: つかさ (tsukasa, 曹)、ともがら (tomogara, 曹)、へや (heya, 曹)

Compounds

Korean

Hanja

曹 (eum 조 (jo))

Alternative form of 曺

Compounds

조계종 (曹溪宗, jogyejong)
육조 (六曹, yukjo)

Vietnamese

Han character

曹: Hán Nôm readings: Tào

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