Chinese

Noun

天干

1. A heavenly stem: one of the ten terms used in East Asian cultures to represent
   1. (historical or astrology) A day of the traditional ten-day week.
   2. (mythology) One of the ten suns thought to appear in succession on its appointed day of the traditional week.
   3. (historical religion) The ancestor venerated with a ritual on the appointed day of the traditional week.
   4. (formal) An ordinal, used in similar contexts to Roman numerals in English numbering and outlining.
2. The set of ten heavenly stems as a whole.

Synonyms

• (as a set): 十干 (shígān)

Hyponyms

• 甲 (jiǎ, “first”)
• 乙 (yǐ, “second”)
• 丙 (bǐng, “third”)
• 丁 (dīng, “fourth”)
• 戊 (wù, “fifth”)
• 己 (jǐ, “sixth”)
• 庚 (gēng, “seventh”)
• 辛 (xīn, “eighth”)
• 壬 (rén, “ninth”)
• 癸 (guǐ, “tenth”)

Derived terms

See also

• 地支 (dìzhī)