紙

Han character

紙 (radical 120, 糸+4, 10 strokes, cangjie input 女火竹女心 (VFHVP), four-corner 2294₀, composition ⿰糸氏)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 紙
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kjeʔ) : semantic 糸 (“silk”) + phonetic 氏 (OC *skeŋ, *kje, *ɡjeʔ).

Etymology

Unknown. It has been connected to Vietnamese giấy (< Proto-Vietic *k-cajʔ).

Pronunciation

Definitions

紙

1. paper (Classifier: 張／张)

   • 她買了紙、筆等文具。 [MSC, trad.]
     她买了纸、笔等文具。 [MSC, simp.]

     Tā mǎi le zhǐ, bǐ děng wénjù. [Pinyin]

     She bought paper, pens, and other such stationery.

   • 他用棕色的紙把包裹包起來。 [MSC, trad.]
     他用棕色的纸把包裹包起来。 [MSC, simp.]

     Tā yòng zōngsè de zhǐ bǎ bāoguǒ bāo qǐlái. [Pinyin]

     He wrapped brown paper around the package.

   • 自古書契多編以竹簡，其用縑帛者謂之為紙。縑貴而簡重，並不便於人。倫乃造意，用樹膚、麻頭及敝布、魚網以為紙。元興元年奏上之，帝善其能，自是莫不從用焉，故天下咸稱「蔡侯紙」。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     自古书契多编以竹简，其用缣帛者谓之为纸。缣贵而简重，并不便于人。伦乃造意，用树肤、麻头及敝布、鱼网以为纸。元兴元年奏上之，帝善其能，自是莫不从用焉，故天下咸称“蔡侯纸”。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of the Later Han, circa 5^th century CE

     Zìgǔ shūqì duō biān yǐ zhújiǎn, qí yòng jiānbó zhě wèi zhī wéi zhǐ. Jiān guì ér jiǎn zhòng, bìng bù biàn yú rén. Lún nǎi zàoyì, yòng shùfū, mátóu jí bìbù, yúwǎng yǐ wéi zhǐ. Yuánxìng yuánnián zòu shàng zhī, dì shàn qí néng, zì shì mò bù cóng yòng yān, gù tiānxià xián chēng “Cài hóu zhǐ”. [Pinyin]

     In ancient times writings and inscriptions were generally made on tablets of bamboo or on pieces of silk called zhi. But silk being costly and bamboos heavy they were not convenient to use. Cai Lun then initiated the idea of making paper from the bark of trees, remnants of hemp, rags of cloth and fishing nets. He submitted the process to the emperor in the first year of Yuanxing and received praise for his ability. From this time, paper has been in use everywhere and is universally called "the paper of Marquis Cai".

2. Classifier for document and letters.
3. Short for 紙錢／纸钱 (zhǐqián, “paper made to resemble money and burnt as an offering to the dead”).
4. (Mandarin, neologism, slang) Eye dialect spelling of 子.
   • 妹紙 / 妹纸  ―  mèizhǐ  ―  girl
   • 胖紙 / 胖纸  ―  pàngzhǐ  ―  fatty

Compounds

Descendants

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. paper

Etymology

References

Hanja

紙 • (ji) (hangeul 지)

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Han character

紙 (chỉ, giấy)

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