三

See also: Ξ, ≡, ミ, 叁, 彡, and 丰
三 U+4E09, 三
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E09
← 丈
[U+4E08] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 上 →
[U+4E0A]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

三 (radical 1, 一+2, 3 strokes, cangjie input 一一一 (MMM), four-corner 10101, composition ⿳一一一)

  1. Shuōwén Jiězì radical №4

Derived characters

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: page 76, character 5
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 12
  • Dae Jaweon: page 138, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 4, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+4E09

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 三
alt. forms 叄／叁／參／参 financial
弎
𢦘

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 三
Shang Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Chu Slip and silk script Qin slip script Ancient script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script

j00545

j00546

j00547

j00548

j00549

j00550

j00551

j00552

j00553

j00554

Bronze inscriptions

b00355

b00356

b00357

b00358

b00359

b00360

b00361

b00362

b00363

b00364

b00365

b00366

b00367

b00368

b00369

b00370

b00371

b00372

b00373

b00374

b00375

Small seal script

s00097

Transcribed ancient scripts

L12758

L12759

L12760

L12761

L12762

References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and
  • Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series (三) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
三 *suːm, *suːms
弎 *suːm

Ideogram (指事) - three parallel lines. Compare with 一, one line meaning “one”, 二, two lines meaning “two”, and 亖, four lines meaning “four”. Triplication of 一 (“one”).

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-sum.

Pronunciation 1

Note:
  • saⁿ - vernacular;
  • sam - literary.
Note:
  • san1 - vernacular;
  • sam1 - literary.
Rime
Character 三
Reading # 1/2
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 談 (143)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 蘇甘切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /sɑm/
Pan
Wuyun		 /sɑm/
Shao
Rongfen		 /sɑm/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /sam/
Li
Rong		 /sɑm/
Wang
Li		 /sɑm/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /sɑm/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 sān
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 三
Reading # 1/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 sān
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ sam ›
Old
Chinese		 /*s.rum/ (*s.r- > s-; infl. by 四 *s-?)
English three

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 三
Reading # 1/2
No. 10963
Phonetic
component		 三
Rime
group		 侵
Rime
subdivision		 3
Corresponding
MC rime		 三
Old
Chinese		 /*suːm/

Definitions

三

  1. three
  2. A surname​.

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (三):
  • Japanese: 三 (さん) (san)
  • Korean: 삼 (三, sam)
  • Vietnamese: tam (三)

Others:

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Rime
Character 三
Reading # 2/2
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 談 (143)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 蘇暫切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /sɑmH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /sɑmH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /sɑmH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /samH/
Li
Rong		 /sɑmH/
Wang
Li		 /sɑmH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /sɑmH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 sàn
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 三
Reading # 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 sān
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ samH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*s.r[u]m-s/ (*s.r- > *s-, infl. by 四 *s-?)
English three times

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 三
Reading # 2/2
No. 10965
Phonetic
component		 三
Rime
group		 侵
Rime
subdivision		 3
Corresponding
MC rime		 三
Old
Chinese		 /*suːms/

Definitions

三

  1. † repeatedly; thrice
    三思  ―  sānsī  ―  to think carefully

Compounds

See also

Chinese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102 103 104 108 1012
Normal
(小寫／小写)		 〇 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 百 千 萬／万 億／亿 兆 (Taiwan)
萬億／万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial
(大寫／大写)		 零 壹 貳／贰 參／叁 肆 伍 陸／陆 柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟
Playing cards in Chinese · 撲克牌／扑克牌 (pūkèpái) (layout · text)
A 二 三 四 五 六 七
八 九 十 J Q K 小王 (black), 大王 (red)

Japanese

Kanji

三

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. three

Readings

Compounds

Alternative forms

  • (Financial/formal form): 参

Etymology 1

Japanese cardinal numbers
 <  2 3 4  > 
    Cardinal : 三
Kanji in this term
三
さん
Grade: 1
on’yomi

*/sam/ → /samu/ → /saɴ/

From Middle Chinese 三 (MC sɑm, sɑmH). Compare modern Mandarin 三 (sān).

In Old Japanese, this kanji was used phonetically to transcribe さむ (samu).

Pronunciation

Numeral

三 (hiragana さん, rōmaji san)

  1. three, 3
    Synonym: スリー (surī)
  2. third
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
三
さん
Grade: 1
on’yomi

Borrowing from Chinese 三 (sān), with the pitch accent different from etymology 1. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

Numeral

三 (katakana サン, rōmaji san)

  1. three
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
三
み
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

⟨mi1⟩ → /mi/

From Old Japanese.

Likely an apophonic form of 六 (mu, “six”), compare 四 (yo, “four”) with 八 (ya, “eight”). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

Numeral

三 (hiragana み, rōmaji mi)

  1. three
    一 (ひ)、二 (ふ)、三 (み)、四 (よ)、[...]
    hi, fu, mi, yo, [...]
    (please add an English translation of this example)
Derived terms

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term
三
みい
Grade: 1
Irregular

/mi/ → /miː/

Shift from mi above.[1]

Pronunciation

Numeral

三 (hiragana みい, rōmaji mī)

  1. (colloquial) three
    一 (ひい)、二 (ふう)、三 (みい)、四 (よお)、五 (いつ)、六 (むう)、七 (なあ)、八 (やあ)、九 (こお)、十 (とお)
    hī, fū, mī, yō, itsu, mū, nā, yā, kō, tō
    (please add an English translation of this example)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

Hanja

三 (eumhun 셋 삼 (set sam))

  1. three

References

Vietnamese

Han character

三 (tam, tâm)

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