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Definition 2025

夏

夏

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

夏 (radical 35 夊+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 一山竹水 (MUHE), four-corner 10247, composition ⿱𦣻夂)

References

  • KangXi: page 245, character 12
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5720
  • Dae Jaweon: page 485, character 29
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 869, character 10
  • Unihan data for U+590F

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 夏
alt. forms
 
昰
𠀼
𠌘
𠍺
𡔰
𡕭
𡕻
𡕾
𡖃
𣋗
𤴞
𧈄
𩖳

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 夏
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (夏) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
榎 *kraːʔ
廈 *sraːs, *ɡraːʔ
嗄 *sqʰraːs, *qraːds
夏 *ɡraːʔ, *ɡraːs

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 日 ‎(“sun”) + 頁 ‎(“head; man”) – man under the scorching sun; summer.

Etymology 1

“great; Xia Dynasty; China; Chinese”
Possibly related to 假 (OC *kraːʔ, *kraːs, “great”), 嘏 (OC *kraːʔ, “great”) and 廈 (OC *sraːs, *ɡraːʔ, “big house”) (Wang, 1980). Shi (2000) and Mair (2013) relate this word to Tibetan རྒྱ ‎(rgya, “great; wide; width; size; expanse; China”).
“magnificent colours; variegated”
The sense “variegated” may be of a different origin. Compare Proto-Sino-Tibetan *Krā(H) ‎(“variegated”) (Starostin), whence Tibetan བཀྲ ‎(bkra, “variegated; bright; radiant; splendid”), Tibetan ཁྲ ‎(khra, “many-coloured; variegated; mottled; striped”) and Burmese ကျား ‎(kya:, “variegated; striped; chequered”). Possibly related to 騢 (OC *ɡraː, “horse with mixed red and white colour”).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 夏
Reading # 1/2
Initial (聲) 匣 (33)
Final (韻) 麻 (98)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) II
Fanqie 胡雅切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɦˠaX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɦᵚaX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɣaX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ɦaɨX/
Li
Rong		 /ɣaX/
Wang
Li		 /ɣaX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ɣaX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 xià
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 夏
Reading # 1/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 xià
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ hæX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[ɢ]ˤraʔ/
English great; pertaining to Chinese civilization

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 夏
Reading # 1/2
No. 13452
Phonetic
component		 夏
Rime
group		 魚
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 下
Old
Chinese		 /*ɡraːʔ/

Definitions

夏

  1. (historical) (～朝) Xia Dynasty
  2. †(by extension) China; Chinese
  3. †great; grand; magnificent
  4. †magnificent colours; resplendent colours; variegated
  5. †Alternative form of 廈／厦 (shà, “big house”).
  6. A surname​.

Compounds

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 夏
Reading # 2/2
Initial (聲) 匣 (33)
Final (韻) 麻 (98)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) II
Fanqie 胡駕切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɦˠaH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɦᵚaH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɣaH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ɦaɨH/
Li
Rong		 /ɣaH/
Wang
Li		 /ɣaH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ɣaH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 xià
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 夏
Reading # 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 xià
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ hæH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[ɡ]ˤraʔ/ (~ *[ɡ]ˤraʔ-s)
English summer

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 夏
Reading # 2/2
No. 13454
Phonetic
component		 夏
Rime
group		 魚
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 暇
Old
Chinese		 /*ɡraːs/

Definitions

夏

  1. summer (season)
See also
Seasons in Chinese · 四季 (sìjì) (layout · text)
春 (chūn, “spring”) 夏 (“summer”) 秋 (qiū, “fall; autumn”) 冬 (dōng, “winter”)

Compounds

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

夏

  1. †Only used in 夏楚 (“ancient punishment instrument”).

References

Japanese

Kanji

夏

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. summer

Readings

Compounds

  • 夏休 (なつやすみ) ‎(natsuyasumi), 夏休 (なつやす)み ‎(natsuyasumi): summer break
  • 晩夏 (ばんか) ‎(banka): ending summer
  • 立夏 (りっか) ‎(rikka): first day of summer
  • 翌夏 (よくなつ) ‎(yokunatsu): next summer

Pronunciation

Kanji in this term
夏
なつ
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Noun

夏 ‎(hiragana なつ, romaji natsu)

  1. summer (season)

Synonyms

See also

Seasons in Japanese · 四 (し)季 (き) ‎(shiki) (layout · text)
春 (はる) ‎(haru, “spring”) 夏 (なつ) ‎(natsu, “summer”) 秋 (あき) ‎(aki, “fall; autumn”) 冬 (ふゆ) ‎(fuyu, “winter”)

Korean

Hanja

夏 • ‎(ha) (hangeul 하, revised ha, McCune-Reischauer ha)

  1. summer

compounds

  • 하복 ‎(habok)(夏服) summer clothes
  • 하계 ‎(hagye)(夏季) summer season
  • 금하 ‎(geumha)(今夏) this(今) summer
  • 동충하초 ‎(dongchunghacho)(冬蟲夏草) Cordyceps
  • 춘하추동 ‎(chunhachudong)(春夏秋冬) four seasons
  • 하절 ‎(hajeol)(夏節) summer season

See also

Vietnamese

Han character

夏 (hạ, hè, thủy)

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