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Definition 2025

客

客

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

客 (radical 40 宀+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 十竹水口 (JHER), four-corner 30604, composition ⿱宀各)

Derived characters

References

  • KangXi: page 284, character 12
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7128
  • Dae Jaweon: page 561, character 16
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 927, character 13
  • Unihan data for U+5BA2

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 客

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 客
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (各) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
髂 *kʰraːɡs
路 *ɡ·raːɡs
輅 *ɡ·raːɡs
賂 *ɡ·raːɡs
虂 *ɡ·raːɡs
露 *ɡ·raːɡs
潞 *raːɡs
鷺 *raːɡs
璐 *raːɡs
簬 *raːɡs
簵 *ɡ·raːɡs
洛 *ɡ·raːɡ
駱 *ɡ·raːɡ
絡 *ɡ·raːɡ
酪 *ɡ·raːɡ
烙 *ɡ·raːɡ
雒 *ɡ·raːɡ
珞 *ɡ·raːɡ
硌 *ɡ·raːɡ
袼 *ɡ·raːɡ, *klaːɡ
笿 *ɡ·raːɡ
鉻 *ɡ·raːɡ, *kraːɡ
鮥 *ɡ·raːɡ
鵅 *ɡ·raːɡ, *kraːɡ
挌 *ɡ·raːɡ, *kraːɡ
落 *ɡ·raːɡ
各 *klaːɡ
胳 *klaːɡ
閣 *klaːɡ
格 *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ
擱 *klaːɡ
恪 *kʰlaːɡ
愙 *kʰaːɡ
貉 *ɡlaːɡ, *mɡraːɡ
狢 *ɡlaːɡ
佫 *ɡlaːɡ
略 *ɡ·raɡ
茖 *kraːɡ
骼 *kraːɡ
觡 *kraːɡ
蛒 *kraːɡ
敋 *kraːɡ
客 *kʰraːɡ
喀 *kʰraːɡ
揢 *kʰraːɡ
額 *ŋɡraːɡ
峉 *ŋɡraːɡ
頟 *ŋɡraːɡ
詻 *ŋɡraːɡ
垎 *ɡraːɡ
楁 *ɡraːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kʰraːɡ) : semantic 宀 ‎(“roof”) + phonetic 各 ‎(OC *klaːɡ) – a guest. Oracle bone script used 𠯆 instead of 各.

Etymology

Probably belongs to the word family of 格 (OC *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ, “to go, to come”). Starostin compares this with Proto-Altaic *kàra ‎(“opposite, enemy”) > Turkish karak ‎(“robber”). Schuessler (2007) cites Tibetan དགྲ ‎(dgra, “enemy”) as a possible cognate.

Pronunciation

  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 客
Mandarin Beijing /kʰɤ⁵¹/
Harbin /t͡ɕʰiɛ²¹³/
/kʰɤ⁵³/
Tianjin /t͡ɕʰie¹³/
/kʰɤ⁵³/
Jinan /kə²¹/
/kʰei²¹³/
Qingdao /kʰə⁵⁵/
/kʰe⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /kʰɤ²⁴/
Xi'an /kʰei²¹/
Xining /kʰɨ⁴⁴/
Yinchuan /kʰa¹³/
/kʰə¹³/
Lanzhou /kʰə¹³/
Ürümqi /kʰɤ²¹³/
/kʰei⁴⁴/
Wuhan /kʰɤ²¹³/
Chengdu /kʰe³¹/
Guiyang /kʰɛ²¹/
Kunming /kʰə³¹/
Nanjing /kʰəʔ⁵/
Hefei /kʰɐʔ⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /kʰaʔ²/
Pingyao /kʰʌʔ¹³/
/t͡ɕʰiʌʔ¹³/
Hohhot /kʰaʔ⁴³/
Wu Shanghai /kʰaʔ⁵/
Suzhou /kʰɑʔ⁵/
Hangzhou /kʰɑʔ⁵/
Wenzhou /kʰa²¹³/
Hui Shexian /kʰɛʔ²¹/
Tunxi /kʰa⁵/
Xiang Changsha /kʰə²⁴/
Xiangtan /kʰæ²⁴/
Gan Nanchang /kʰɑʔ⁵/
Hakka Meixian /hak̚¹/
Taoyuan /hɑk̚²²/
Cantonese Guangzhou /hak̚³/
Nanning /hak̚³³/
Hong Kong /hak̚³/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /kʰik̚³²/
/kʰeʔ³²/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /kʰɑʔ²³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /kʰa²⁴/
Shantou (Min Nan) /kʰeʔ²/
Haikou (Min Nan) /xɛ⁵⁵/
Rime
Character 客
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 溪 (29)
Final (韻) 陌 (113)
Tone (調) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) II
Fanqie 苦格切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kʰˠæk̚/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kʰᵚak̚/
Shao
Rongfen		 /kʰak̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kʰaɨjk̚/
Li
Rong		 /kʰɐk̚/
Wang
Li		 /kʰɐk̚/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /kʰɐk̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 ke
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 客
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 kè
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ khæk ›
Old
Chinese		 /*kʰˤrak/
English guest

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 客
Reading # 1/1
No. 3903
Phonetic
component		 各
Rime
group		 鐸
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 客
Old
Chinese		 /*kʰraːɡ/

Definitions

客

  1. guest; visitor
  2. customer; consumer
  3. to treat with guest etiquette; to receive friendly
  4. minor; less major; less important
  5. Agent suffix, indicating “one that engages in ...”.
  6. one who sponges on a wealthy family; hanger-on; sponger
  7. traveller; passenger; one who lives away from home
  8. to live away from home; to live abroad
  9. (in general) people; person
  10. objective; beyond human consciousness
  11. Short for 客家 (kèjiā, “Hakka”).
  12. Classifier for units of food sold.
  13. A surname​.

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (客):

Others:

  • Proto-Hmong-Mien: *Khæk ‎(“guest”)
    • White Hmong: qhua ‎(“guest”)
  • Lao: ແຂກ ‎(khǣk, “guest”)
  • Thai: แขก ‎(kɛ̀ɛk, “guest”)

Japanese

Kanji

客

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

Noun

客 ‎(hiragana きゃく, romaji kyaku)

  1. guest
  2. customer
  3. patron

Usage notes

This is used as part of a form of address for a customer, like sir or ma'am. Because a customer is in a much higher social position, this word is used with the honorific prefix 御 ‎(お, o-) and the honorific suffix さん ‎(-san) or more often さま ‎(-sama), rendering お客さん (okyakusan) or お客様 (okyakusama).

Korean

Hanja in this term
客

Noun

客 • ‎(gaek) ‎(hangeul 객)

  1. Hanja form? of 객, “guest”.

Vietnamese

Han character

客 (khách)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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