早

Han character

早 (radical 72, 日+2, 6 strokes, cangjie input 日十 (AJ), four-corner 6040₀, composition ⿱日十)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 早
Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 日 (“sun”) + 甲 (“first”) – when the sun first rises.

In some late bronze inscriptions, it was also written as a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ʔsuːʔ) : semantic 日 (“sun”) + phonetic 棗 (OC *ʔsuːʔ), with 棗 sometimes simplified as 朿. In ancient texts, 蚤 (OC *ʔsuːʔ) was often used instead.

Alternatively, it is also possible that 早 was originally a pictograph of a particular type of acorn. The shells of these acorns would be used to make a dark-colored dye. This color indicated the darkness before sunrise and the symbol then took on the meaning of early or fast. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Etymology

Possible cognate found in Proto-Hmong-Mien *ntsi̯ouˣ (“early”), whence White Hmong ntxov and Iu Mien nziou (Baxter-Sagart, 2014; Schuessler, 2007), and Proto-Tai *ɟa:wᶜ (“early morning”), whence Thai เช้า (cháao) and Lü ᦋᧁᧉ (tsaw²).

Pronunciation

Definitions

早

1. early; in advance; soon

   我醒得很早。  ―  Wǒ xǐng dé hěn zǎo.  ―  I woke up early.

   • 你能不能早一點來？ [MSC, trad.]
     你能不能早一点来？ [MSC, simp.]

     Nǐ néng bù néng zǎo yīdiǎn lái? [Pinyin]

     Can you be here a little earlier?

   • 請問，我今天早走一會兒行嗎？ [MSC, trad.]
     请问，我今天早走一会儿行吗？ [MSC, simp.]

     Qǐngwèn, wǒ jīntiān zǎo zǒu yīhuìr xíng ma? [Pinyin]

     Please could I leave early today?

2. long ago; for a long time

   他早走了。  ―  Tā zǎo zǒu le.  ―  He left long ago.

   • 這個變壓器已經燒毀了，早該拆換一個新的了。 [MSC, trad.]
     这个变压器已经烧毁了，早该拆换一个新的了。 [MSC, simp.]

     Zhè ge biànyāqì yǐjīng shāo huǐ le, zǎo gāi chāi huàn yī ge xīn de le. [Pinyin]

     This transformer has burnt out. It should have been replaced a long time ago.

3. (early) morning

   • 我今早沒有見到他。 [MSC, trad.]
     我今早没有见到他。 [MSC, simp.]

     Wǒ jīn zǎo méi yǒu jiàndào tā. [Pinyin]

     I didn't see him this morning.

4. good morning

   老師早！ / 老师早！  ―  Lǎoshī zǎo!  ―  Good morning, teacher!

5. before; in the past time

   • 現在這麼匆忙，你早幹嗎去了。 [MSC, trad.]
     现在这么匆忙，你早干吗去了。 [MSC, simp.]

     Xiànzài zhème cōngmáng, nǐ zǎo gànmá qù le. [Pinyin]

     So now you are in a hurry. What were you doing before?

Compounds

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) は​や [háꜜyà] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
  • IPA^(key): [ha̠ja̠]

Noun

早 (hiragana はや, rōmaji haya)

1. already, now

References

Hanja

早 • (jo)

• Eumhun:
  • Sound (hangeul): 조 (McCune–Reischauer: cho, Yale: co)
  • Name (hangeul): 일찍

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

Han character

早 (tảo, linh)

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