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他

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: 她, 祂, 牠, 𲎿, and 𲰼
他 U+4ED6, 他
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4ED6
← 仕
[U+4ED5]
CJK Unified Ideographs 仗 →
[U+4ED7]

Translingual

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Stroke order
5 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

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他 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+3, 5 strokes, Cangjie input 人心木 (OPD), four-corner 24212, composition ⿰亻也)

Derived characters

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References

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  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 92, character 9
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 370
  • Dae Jaweon: page 195, character 12
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 115, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+4ED6

Usage notes

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Not to be confused with unrelated 也

Chinese

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trad. 他
simp. # 他

Glyph origin

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Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *l̥ʰaːl): semantic 亻 (“man”) + phonetic 也 (OC *laːlʔ).

Corrupted form of 佗 (OC *l̥ʰaːl, *l'aːl), which is found in Zuozhuan.

Etymology 1

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Etymology not clear (Schuessler, 2007). Perhaps cognate with 誃 (OC *l'al, *l̥ʰjalʔ, “to separate”).

The modern sense of "he, she, it" only emerged after the Han period in colloquial passages, and displaced classical 其 (OC *ɡɯ) and 之 (OC *tjɯ) in Mandarin dialects (Pulleyblank, 1995).

The phonological development from Middle Chinese was irregular. The expected reflex is tuō, which is sometimes used in literary contexts for the classical "other" sense, but in most Mandarin dialects it is read like tā.

Pronunciation

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Note:
  • thaⁿ/tha - vernacular;
  • tho - literary.

Rime
Character 他
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 透 (6)
Final (韻) 歌 (94)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 託何切
Baxter tha
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/tʰɑ/
Pan
Wuyun
/tʰɑ/
Shao
Rongfen
/tʰɑ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/tʰa/
Li
Rong
/tʰɑ/
Wang
Li
/tʰɑ/
Bernhard
Karlgren
/tʰɑ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
tuō
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
to1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 他
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
tā
Middle
Chinese
‹ tha ›
Old
Chinese
/*l̥ˁaj/ (E dialect: *l̥ˁ- > MC th-)
English another

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 他
Reading # 1/1
No. 14765
Phonetic
component
也
Rime
group
歌
Rime
subdivision
1
Corresponding
MC rime
佗
Old
Chinese
/*l̥ʰaːl/
Notes 俗與佗通用

Definitions

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他

  1. (chiefly Mandarin, Jin, Xiang, dialectal Wu, originally gender-neutral; nowadays usually referring to males) he; him; she; her
    他去了。  ―  Tā qù le.  ―  He went away.
    我認識他。/我认识他。  ―  Wǒ rènshi tā.  ―  I know him.
  2. A dummy pronoun. Compare object pronoun 之 (zhī)
    Alternative form: 它
    睡他個昏天黑地/睡他个昏天黑地  ―  shuì tā ge hūntiānhēidì  ―  sleep like there's no tomorrow
  3. other; another
    別無他求/别无他求  ―  bié wú tā qiú  ―  have no other request (formal)
  4. (Internet slang) nickname for Xi Jinping (born 1953), General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party since 2012[1]
Usage notes
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  • (personal pronoun):
    • Originally gender-neutral before the 1910s, when the character 她 (tā, “she; her”) was coined; now usually refers to males (also occasionally refers to females).
      • However, 他/她/牠/它/祂 (tā) is only a written distinction; they are all still pronounced as tā.
    • This term can refer to a person of unknown gender or there is no need to mention gender of the person referred to, while 他/她 (gender binary) is also used; see also Internet slang TA (tā, “they (singular)”).
Synonyms
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Most of the words in the table below are gender-neutral in spoken form.

  • (neologism, rare, specifically male) 𲰼 (tā)
  • (neologism, rare, specifically gender neutral) 𲎿 (tā)

See also

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Standard Mandarin Chinese personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person — 我 (wǒ) 我們/我们 (wǒmen)
inclusive 咱們/咱们 (zánmen)
2nd person male/indefinite 你 (nǐ) 你們/你们 (nǐmen)
female 妳/你 (nǐ) 妳們/你们 (nǐmen)
deity 祢 (nǐ) 祢們/祢们 (nǐmen)
polite 您 (nín) 你們/你们 (nǐmen)
您們/您们 (nínmen)
3rd person male/indefinite 他 (tā) 他們/他们 (tāmen)
female 她 (tā) 她們/她们 (tāmen)
deity 祂 (tā) 祂們/祂们 (tāmen)
polite 怹 (tān) 他們/他们 (tāmen)
怹們/怹们 (tānmen)
animal 牠/它 (tā) 牠們/它们 (tāmen)
inanimate 它 (tā) 它們/它们 (tāmen)

Compounds

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Descendants

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  • Wutunhua: ta (“he; she; it”)

Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Definitions

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他

  1. Used in transcription.

Compounds

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Etymology 3

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Pronunciation

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Definitions

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他

  1. alternative form of 馱 / 驮

References

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  1. ^ 袁莉 (8 September 2026), “悲观、沮丧与黑色幽默:中国社交媒体上的“负能量” [Social Media in China Is Getting Really Dark]”, in New York Times

Japanese

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Kanji

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他

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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  • Go-on: た (ta, Jōyō)
  • Kan-on: た (ta, Jōyō)
  • Kun: ほか (hoka, 他, Jōyō)
  • Nanori: おさ (osa)、ひと (hito)、ほか (hoka)

Compounds

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Etymology 1

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Kanji in this term
他
ほか
Grade: 3
kun'yomi
Alternative spelling
外

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *poka.

Cognate with Baekje 保加 (*poka, “outside”);[1] compare Korean 밖 (bak, “outside”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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他(ほか) • (hoka) 

  1. another, other, some other, the rest
    この他(ほか)にも行(ゆ)き先(さき)がありますか。
    Kono hoka ni mo yukisaki ga arimasu ka.
    Do you have any other destinations?
    他(ほか)にだれが手(て)伝(つだ)いに行(い)きますか。
    Hoka ni dare ga tetsudai ni ikimasu ka.
    Who else will go to help you?
Derived terms
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Idiom

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  1. 他(ほか)でもない (hoka de mo nai): “there isn't anything else” → “specifically what I want to say is...” (used to emphasize what one is about to say)

Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term
他
た
Grade: 3
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 他 (MC tha).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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他(た) • (ta) 

  1. another, other, some other
    この事(じ)業(ぎょう)は他(た)を利(り)するために開(かい)始(し)されました。
    Kono jigyō wa ta o risuru tame ni kaishi saremashita.
    This project was started in order to benefit others.
Derived terms
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Idioms
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References

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  1. ^ John Bentley (2000), “New Look at Paekche and Korean: Data from Nihon shoki”, in Language Research‎[1], volume 36, number 2, Seoul National University, archived from the original on 30 September 2026, pages 417—443
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

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Hanja

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他 (eumhun 남 타 (nam ta))

  1. hanja form? of 타 (“another, other, some other”)

Compounds

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Vietnamese

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Han character

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他: Hán Việt readings: tha[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
他: Nôm readings: thà[1][2][3][4][5][6][7], thơ[1][2][3][4], tha[1][2][3][7], thè[3][4], thá[1], thả[1], thoa[1], xoa[1], đà[2]

  1. chữ Nôm form of tha
    1. to forgive
    2. (of animals) to carry with the mouth
    3. used in tha ma (“(informal) graveyard”)
    4. used in thiết tha (“earnest; ardent; fervent”)
    5. used in thướt tha (“elegant”)
  2. chữ Nôm form of thà
    1. (before verbs) used to signify a better choice or preference
    2. used in thật thà, thực thà (“truthful; honest; sincere”)
  3. chữ Nôm form of thả (“to release; to let go; to set free”)
  4. chữ Nôm form of thoa (“alternative form of xoa (“to apply, to put, to rub substances or liquids”)”)
  5. chữ Nôm form of thơ
    1. young; tender
    2. used in thơ thẩn (“to wander with vague thoughts”)
  6. chữ Nôm form of xoa (“to rub; to put; to apply; to smear”)

References

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Zhuang

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Pronoun

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他

  1. Sawndip form of de (“he, she, it”)