為

See also: 爲 and 为
為 U+70BA, 為
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-70BA
← 点
[U+70B9] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 炻 →
[U+70BB]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

為 (radical 86, 火+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 戈大弓火 (IKNF), four-corner 20227)

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: not present, would follow page 669, character 10
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 18981
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2198, character 11
  • Unihan data for U+70BA

Chinese

trad. 為/爲
simp. 为

Glyph origin

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

Simplified from 爲.

In the oracle bone script, it is an ideogrammic compound (會意) : 又 (“hand”) + 象 (“elephant”) — a hand holding an elephant. The 又 later became 爪 (“hand; claw”).

Shuowen Jiezi explained the character to be a representation of the female macaque.

Etymology

The two pronunciations below (“to make; to do; to be”, “for; to; because”) are cognate; the latter is the *–s derivative of the former. Words meaning “to make, to do” often have secondary meanings of “for, as” – compare 作.

Etymology not certain. Starostin compared this word with Tibetan བགྱིད (bgyid, “to make, to manufacture”), བགྱི་བ (bgyi ba, “action, deed”), ཡིན (yin, “is, be”) and Burmese ဝေ (we, “to distribute, to share”). Schuessler (2007) listed *ʔaajh (“to give”) (> Khmer ឲ្យ (ʾaoy, “to give, to donate”)) and Khmer ធ្វើ (thvəə, “to do, to make”), although the vowels do not match.

The graphic representation using monkey or elephant probably stems a homophonic or near-homophonic etymon which was rarely attested; compare Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b/g-woj-n > Jingpho woi (“monkey”) and possibly 猿 (OC *ɢʷan, “ape”). Outside Sino-Tibetan, compare Proto-Vietic *-vɔːj (“elephant”) > Vietnamese voi (“elephant”).

Pronunciation 1

Rime
Character 為
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 云 (35)
Final (韻) 支 (14)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Closed
Division (等) Chongniu III
Fanqie 薳支切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɦˠiuᴇ/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɦʷᵚiɛ/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɣiuɛ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ɦjwiə̆/
Li
Rong		 /ɣjue/
Wang
Li		 /ɣǐwe/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /wie̯/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 wéi
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 為
Reading # 1/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 wéi
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ hjwe ›
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷ(r)aj/
English make, do, act as

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 為
Reading # 1/2
Phonetic
component		 爲
Rime
group		 歌
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 爲
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷal/
Notes 俗爲字

Definitions

為

  1. to do; to make
  2. (to turn, to transform) into; to
  3. to be (equivalent to, equal to)
  4. to take something as
  5. to act as; to serve as; to behave as
  6. as (in the capacity of)

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 為
Reading # 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 wèi
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ hjweH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷ(r)aj-s/
English for, because

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 為
Reading # 2/2
Phonetic
component		 爲
Rime
group		 歌
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 爲
Old
Chinese		 /*ɢʷals/

Definitions

為

  1. for; to
  2. because of
    你為這生氣哦。 / 你为这生气哦。  ―  Nǐ wèi zhè shēngqì o.  ―  So that's what you're upset about?
  3. for the sake of
    不為五斗米折腰 / 不为五斗米折腰  ―  bù wèi wǔ dǒu mǐ zhéyāo  ―  don't bow down for the sake of five pecks (or decalitres) of rice

Compounds

Japanese

Shinjitai

 為

Kyūjitai

 爲

Kanji

為

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 爲)

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

Readings

Noun

為 (hiragana ため, rōmaji tame)

  1. benefit
  2. sake; reason
    君 (きみ)のために
    kimi no tame ni
    for you; because of you; for your sake
    「ピアノのために」
    “piano no tame ni”
    "for the piano" (i.e. in European classical music)

Verb

為 (irregular conjugation, hiragana す, rōmaji su)

  1. to do

Derived terms

Compounds

Korean

Hanja

為 • (wi) (hangeul 위) 為 (wi; hangul: 위)

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Vietnamese

Han character

為 (vi, vị)

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