四

See also: 西, 匹, and 㓁
四 U+56DB, 四
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-56DB
← 囚
[U+56DA] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 囜 →
[U+56DC]

Translingual
Stroke order

Han character

四 (radical 31, 囗+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 田金 (WC), four-corner 60210, composition ⿴囗⿰丿㇄(GHTV) or ⿴囗儿(JK))

References
  • KangXi: page 216, character 22
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4682
  • Dae Jaweon: page 439, character 21
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 710, character 16
  • Unihan data for U+56DB

Chinese
simp. and trad.
 四
variant forms
 
肆 financial
亖
皿
龱
𠁤
𠃢
𦉭

Glyph origin
Historical forms of the character 四
Shang Western Zhou Spring and Autumn Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Chu Slip and silk script Qin slip script Ancient script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (四) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
訵 *l̥ʰids
四 *hljids
泗 *hljids
駟 *hljids
柶 *hljids
牭 *hljids
呬 *hrids

The word "four" was written as 亖 before Western Zhou and 四 appeared in late Spring and Autumn period. This alternative form was used to prevent confusion of 亖 and 二 or 三 in vertical writing. It was standardized in Qin dynasty.

The bronzeware style of the character featured a repositioning of those four lines inside 口; this later evolved into the combination used today of 口 (“mouth”) and 八 (“divide”) which meant a dispersal of breath. It could thus be said that four is a borrowed meaning for this character. The original sense is preserved in 呬 (OC *hrids), by adding an extra 口.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ləj.

Pronunciation
Note: si3 - rare.
Note:
  • sé - vernacular;
  • sé̤ṳ - literary.
Note:
  • Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Taiwan, Singapore, Penang:
    • sì - vernacular;
    • sù/sìr - literary.
  • Jinjiang, Philippines:
    • sì - vernacular and literary.
Rime
Character 四
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 脂 (15)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 息利切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /siɪH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /siH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /sjɪH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /siH/
Li
Rong		 /siH/
Wang
Li		 /siH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /siH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 sì
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 四
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 sì
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ sijH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*s.li[j]-s/
English four

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 四
Reading # 1/1
No. 12022
Phonetic
component		 四
Rime
group		 至
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 四
Old
Chinese		 /*hljids/

Definitions

四

  1. four
  2. (music) la (musical note)
  3. (printing) English; The size of type between 小四 (little 4) and 小三 (little 3), standardized as 14 point.

Usage notes

As superstition, 四 (MC siɪH) is avoided because it is similar to 死 (MC sˠiɪX, “death”) in sound.

Compounds
Derived terms from 四

Descendants
Sino-Xenic (四):

Others:

See also
Chinese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102 103 104 108 1012
Normal
(小寫／小写)		 〇 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 百 千 萬／万 億／亿 兆 (Taiwan)
萬億／万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial
(大寫／大写)		 零 壹 貳／贰 參／叁 肆 伍 陸／陆 柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟
Playing cards in Chinese · 撲克牌／扑克牌 (pūkèpái) (layout · text)
A 二 三 四 五 六 七
八 九 十 J Q K 小王 (black), 大王 (red)

Japanese
Japanese cardinal numbers
 <  3 4 5  > 
    Cardinal : 四

Kanji
四

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds
Compounds containing 四

Derived terms

Etymology 1

/yo2/ *[jə] > /yo/ [jo].

Pronunciation

Noun

四 (hiragana よ, rōmaji yo)

  1. four

Etymology 2

Native 四 (yo, “four”) + n, influenced by analogy by the final sound in Chinese 三 (san, “three”).

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) よ​ん [yóꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
  • IPA(key): [jõ̞ɴ]
  • Audio(file)

Noun

四 (hiragana よん, rōmaji yon)

  1. four

Etymology 3

Sino-Japanese reading.

Pronunciation

Noun

四 (hiragana し, rōmaji shi)

  1. four
  2. fourth

Coordinate terms
Japanese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Regular 零 (れい) (rei)
零 (ゼロ) (zero)		 一 (いち) (ichi) 二 (に) (ni) 三 (さん) (san) 四 (よん) (yon)
四 (し) (shi)		 五 (ご) (go) 六 (ろく) (roku) 七 (なな) (nana)
七 (しち) (shichi)		 八 (はち) (hachi) 九 (きゅう) (kyū)
九 (く) (ku)		 十 (じゅう) (jū)
Formal 壱 (いち) (ichi) 弐 (に) (ni) 参 (さん) (san) 拾 (じゅう) (jū)
90 100 300 600 800 1,000 3,000 8,000 10,000 100,000,000
Regular 九 (きゅう)十 (じゅう) (kyūjū) 百 (ひゃく) (hyaku)
一 (いっ)百 (ぴゃく) (ippyaku)		 三 (さん)百 (びゃく) (sanbyaku) 六 (ろっ)百 (ぴゃく) (roppyaku) 八 (はっ)百 (ぴゃく) (happyaku) 千 (せん) (sen)
一 (いっ)千 (せん) (issen)		 三 (さん)千 (ぜん) (sanzen) 八 (はっ)千 (せん) (hassen) 一 (いち)万 (まん) (ichiman) 一 (いち)億 (おく) (ichioku)
Formal 一 (いち)萬 (まん) (ichiman)
1012 8×1012 1013 1016 6×1016 8×1016 1017 1018
一 (いっ)兆 (ちょう) (itchō) 八 (はっ)兆 (ちょう) (hatchō) 十 (じゅっ)兆 (ちょう) (jutchō) 一 (いっ)京 (けい) (ikkei) 六 (ろっ)京 (けい) (rokkei) 八 (はっ)京 (けい) (hakkei) 十 (じゅっ)京 (けい) (jukkei) 百 (ひゃっ)京 (けい) (hyakkei)

References

Korean

Hanja

四 (eumhun 넷 사 (net sa))

  1. four

Compounds

Mulam

Numeral

四 (ti5)

  1. four

Vietnamese

Han character

四: Hán Việt readings: tứ[1][2][3]
四: Nôm readings: tớ[1][2][4], tứ[2][3], tư[4]

  1. Hán tự form of tứ (“four”).
  2. Nôm form of tư (“four; fourth”).

References
  1. Nguyễn (2014).
  2. Nguyễn et al. (2009).
  3. Trần (2004).
  4. Hồ (1976).
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