是

Han character

是 (radical 72, 日+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 日一卜人 (AMYO), four-corner 6080₁, composition ⿱日𤴓)

Glyph origin

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

Originally a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *djeʔ) : semantic 早 + phonetic 止 (OC *kjɯʔ), but the original meaning is unclear. It has been suggested that 早 looks like a spoon, so 是 may have been the original character for 匙 (OC *dje, “spoon”). As early as in late bronze inscriptions, the lower part of 早 split off and combined with 止 to give 昰, which carried over to the small seal script, and Shuowen considers this a compound of 日 (“sun”) + 正 (“upright; right”) (i.e. as the upright sun).

Etymology

“This [an independent pronoun] > be right, correct, to be, so”. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-daj ~ m-di (“that; this”). Cognate with Tibetan དེ (de, “that”), Jingpho dai, ndai (“this”).

Cognate with 寔 (OC *djɯɡ, “this”), 實 (OC *ɦliɡ, “this”) and 諟 (OC *djeʔ, “to examine, to consider”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

是

1. ^† this; this thing
   • 是日  ―  shìrì  ―  this day

   • 是可忍，孰不可忍？ [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, circa 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Shì kě rěn, shú bù kě rěn? [Pinyin]

     If this can be tolerated, what cannot?

2. (copulative) to be
   1. indicating that the subject and object are the same.

      泰晤士河是英國第二長的河流。 [MSC, trad.]
      泰晤士河是英国第二长的河流。 [MSC, simp.]

      Tàiwùshìhé shì Yīngguó dì'èr cháng de héliú. [Pinyin]

      The River Thames is the second longest river in the UK.

   2. indicating that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.

      我是老師。 / 我是老师。  ―  Wǒ shì lǎoshī.  ―  I am a teacher.

      我是中國人。 / 我是中国人。  ―  Wǒ shì zhōngguórén.  ―  I am Chinese.

   3. indicating a place being occupied by the object, where the place forms the subject.

      房子前面是禾場。 / 房子前面是禾场。  ―  Fángzǐ qiánmiàn shì héchǎng.  ―  The threshing floor is in front of the house.

      到處都是 / 到处都是  ―  dàochù dōu shì  ―  to be everywhere

3. a particle emphasizing the word following it.

   我是昨天買的票。 / 我是昨天买的票。  ―  Wǒ shì zuótiān mǎi de piào.  ―  It was yesterday when I bought the ticket.

   我買票是在昨天。 / 我买票是在昨天。  ―  Wǒ mǎi piào shì zài zuótiān.  ―  It was yesterday when I bought the ticket.

4. a particle showing agreement. In this meaning, 是 is stressed. truly; indeed.

   天氣是冷。 / 天气是冷。  ―  Tiānqì shì lěng.  ―  It is indeed cold.

   是，長官。 / 是，长官。  ―  Shì, zhǎngguān.  ―  Yes, sir.

   這件裙子是很漂亮，但是太貴了。 [MSC, trad.]
   这件裙子是很漂亮，但是太贵了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè jiàn qúnzi shì hěn piàoliàng, dànshì tài guì le. [Pinyin]

   Although this dress is truly beautiful, it's too expensive.

5. (only in compounds) true, correct
   • 不是  ―  bùshì  ―  fault; mistake; wrongdoing
   • 你說得是 / 你说得是  ―  nǐ shuō de shì  ―  What you said is right
   • 各行其是  ―  gè xíng qí shì  ―  to have each going his own way, i.e., doing what he considers right
   • 共商國是 / 共商国是  ―  gòng shāng guó shì  ―  to discuss national affairs
     (This is a fossil word from Ancient Chinese where 是 (OC *djeʔ) originally means "what is right (for the country)", i.e., "laws and policies")
6. A surname​.

Compounds

References

• (Cantonese) Multi-function Chinese Character Database (漢語多功能字庫)

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. justice, right

Hanja

是 • (si)

• Eumhun:
  • Sound (hangeul): 시
  • Name (hangeul): 바를

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

Han character

是 (thị)

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