了

See also: 瞭
了 U+4E86, 了
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E86
← 亅
[U+4E85] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 亇 →
[U+4E87]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

了 (radical 6, 亅+1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 弓弓 (NN), four-corner 17207, composition ⿱乛亅)

References

  • KangXi: page 85, character 11
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 226
  • Dae Jaweon: page 173, character 20
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 48, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+4E86

Chinese

trad. 了/瞭*
simp. 了
瞭 – sense “clear”

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 了
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script
Small seal script

s10990

Transcribed ancient scripts

L16444

L16445

L16446

L16447

L16448

L16449

L16450

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 (了) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
釕 *teːwʔ
了 *reːwʔ

Pictogram (象形) – a baby wrapped in a blanket, with only the head visible. Compare with 子, where the arms are visible.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Etymology 1

Verb “to finish; to be completed” > perfective aspect particle (了₁, weakened form) > change-of-state modal particle (了₂).

Two kinds of particle uses of 了 can be distinguished: the perfective aspect particle after verbs (conventionally written as 了₁) and the sentence-final modal particle (了₂). It is generally accepted (Wu, 1998) that these two uses of 了 are derived from the concrete verb “to finish”. The grammaticalisation of this verb had become common in the Tang Dynasty, initially in the form of ‹verb + (object) + perfective 了› to indicate the completion of an action.

The perfective particle subsequently underwent further grammaticalisation to become the sentence-final change-of-state modal particle; Liu (1985) has demonstrated that this last step may have involved the coalescence of sentence-final 了 with 也 in certain Mandarin dialects, as the pronunciations of 了₁ and 了₂ are distinct in these lects, with 了₂ rhyming with 也.

This word is cognate with Thai แล้ว (lɛ́ɛo, “to be finished; already; then, afterwards”), Lao ແລ້ວ (lǣu, “to finish; to be completed; perfective particle”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation 1

Note: liao - in poetry, songs.
Definitions

了

  1. Used after a verb to indicate perfective aspect (action completion).
    我吃了一個蘋果。 / 我吃了一个苹果。  ―  Wǒ chī le yī ge píngguǒ.  ―  I ate an apple. / I have eaten an apple.
  2. Used at the end of a sentence to indicate a change of state.
    他是大學生了。 / 他是大学生了。  ―  Tā shì dàxuéshēng le.  ―  He has become a student / He is a student now.
  3. Used at the end of a sentence to inform the beginning of an action.
    我走了。  ―  Wǒ zǒu le.  ―  I'm leaving now.


Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 了 (“perfective particle”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 了
Mandarin Beijing 了
Taiwan 了
Malaysia 了
Singapore 了
Cantonese Guangzhou 咗
Hong Kong 咗
Taishan 敢、啊
Hakka Miaoli (N. Sixian) 了
Liudui (S. Sixian) 了
Hsinchu (Hailu) 了
Dongshi (Dabu) 了
Zhuolan (Raoping) 了
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 矣
Min Nan Xiamen 啦、咯
Quanzhou 咯
Taipei 矣、啦
Wu Shanghai 仔、了
Wenzhou 罷、爻
Usage notes
  • (perfective aspect particle): Most of the time, 了 is translated by a past tense. But it can also indicate that one action is completed before another.
    你吃了以後叫我。 / 你吃了以后叫我。  ―  Nǐ chī le yǐhòu jiào wǒ.  ―  Call me when you are done eating.
  • (change of state particle): When used as the change of state particle, 了 can be translated by “now”, “already” or “not anymore”.
    我會說中文了。 / 我会说中文了。  ―  Wǒ huì shuō zhōngwén le.  ―  I can speak Chinese now. (I couldn't before.)
    我喝醉了。  ―  Wǒ hēzuì le.  ―  I'm drunk.
    沒有紙了。 / 没有纸了。  ―  Méiyǒu zhǐ le.  ―  There's no paper anymore.
  • In a question, 了 is put before the particle 嗎／吗 (ma).
Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Rime
Character 了
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 來 (37)
Final (韻) 蕭 (93)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) IV
Fanqie 盧鳥切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /leuX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /leuX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /leuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /lɛwX/
Li
Rong		 /leuX/
Wang
Li		 /lieuX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /lieuX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 liǎo
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 了
Reading # 1/1
No. 8067
Phonetic
component		 了
Rime
group		 宵
Rime
subdivision		 2
Corresponding
MC rime		 了
Old
Chinese		 /*reːwʔ/
Definitions

了

  1. to be finished; to be completed
  2. to end; to finish
  3. to understand; to comprehend
    了解  ―  liǎojiě  ―  to understand, to realize
  4. clear; plain; understandable
  5. bright; intelligent; smart
  6. (in negative sentences) completely; utterly; entirely
  7. Used with 不 (bù) or 得 (de) after verbs to express possibility.
Compounds

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 了 – see 潦 (“to flood; a puddle; etc.”).
(This character, 了, is the second-round simplified form of 潦.)
Notes:

Japanese

Kanji

了

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Noun

了 (hiragana りょう, rōmaji ryō)

  1. end
  2. (art works): concluded

Proper noun

了 (hiragana さとる, rōmaji Satoru)

  1. A male given name.

Korean

Hanja

了 • (ryo>yo) (hangeul 료>요)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

了 (liễu)

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