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左

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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左 U+5DE6, 左
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5DE6
← 工
[U+5DE5] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 巧 →
[U+5DE7]

Translingual

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Han character

左 (Kangxi radical 48, 工+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 大一 (KM), four-corner 40011, composition ⿸𠂇工)

Derived characters

Descendants

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 325, character 8
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8720
  • Dae Jaweon: page 626, character 7
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 411, character 5
  • Unihan data for U+5DE6
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Chinese

More information simp. and trad., alternative forms ...
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Glyph origin

More information Historical forms of the character 左, Shang ...
Characters in the same phonetic series (左) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
More information Old Chinese ...

Originally written 𠂇 and 䶹 in the oracle bone script: Pictogram (象形) – a left hand. Compare 又 (“right hand”).

Late bronze inscription forms show an added 工 (“work; to assist?”) component, making the current form a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ʔsaːlʔ, *ʔsaːls) and ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): phonetic 𠂇 (“left hand”) + semantic 工 (“work”), representing the original form of 佐 (OC *ʔsaːls, “to assist”).

Etymology

Cognate with 佐 (OC *ʔsaːls, “to assist”) (< be on one's left side); mirror of the semantic relationship between 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, “right”) and 佑 (OC *ɢʷɯs, “to assist”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Unrelated to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *b(w)aj (“left (hand)”) (STEDT).

“(politics) left-wing”
Semantic loan from English left, in turn a semantic loan from French gauche.

Pronunciation 1

Note:
  • Quanzhou:
    • chó - vernacular;
    • chó͘ - literary.
  • Dialectal data
More information Variety, Location ...
More information Rime, Character ...
More information Character, Reading # ...
More information Zhengzhang system (2003), Character ...

Definitions

左

  1. left (direction)
    左手  ―  zuǒshǒu  ―  left hand
  2. east; areas to the east
    江左  ―  jiāngzuǒ  ―  area east of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River
  3. (nautical) port
    左舷  ―  zuǒxián  ―  portside
  4. (historical) inferior position
  5. unorthodox; wrong
  6. erroneously; mistakingly
    你想左了。  ―  Nǐ xiǎng zuǒ le.  ―  You are mistaken.
  7. different; divided; inconsistent
    相左  ―  xiàngzuǒ  ―  to conflict with each other; to fail to agree
  8. (politics) left-wing
  9. (chemistry) levo-
    左多巴  ―  zuǒduōbā  ―  levodopa
  10. (Sichuanese, of singing) out of tune; off-key
  11. (Southwestern Mandarin, including Sichuanese) to exchange
  12. (Eastern Min) devious, dishonest
  13. (Xiang) wrong; incorrect
  14. a surname
    左宗棠  ―  Zuǒ Zōngtáng  ―  Zuo Zongtang (Qing dynasty Chinese statesman and military leader)
Usage notes

In socialist nations e.g. mainland China, 左 is usually (not necessarily) put in quotation marks when referring to the leftism further to the correct party line.

Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 左 (“left”) [map]
More information Variety, Location ...
Dialectal synonyms of 錯 (“wrong”) [map]
More information Variety, Location ...
Antonyms
  • 右 (yòu, “right”)

Pronunciation 2

More information Rime, Character ...
More information Character, Reading # ...
More information Zhengzhang system (2003), Character ...

Definitions

左

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Original form of 佐 (zuǒ, “to assist”).

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (左):
  • → Japanese: 左(さ) (sa)
  • → Korean: 좌(左) (jwa)
  • → Vietnamese: tả (左)

Others:

  • → Ahom: 𑜏𑜩 (say, “left”)
  • → Bouyei: soix (“left”)
  • → English: Tso, Zuo
  • → Lao: ຊ້າຍ (sāi, “left”)
  • → Shan: သၢႆႉ (sâ̰ai, “left”)
  • → Thai: ซ้าย (sáai, “left”)
  • → Zhuang: swix (“left”)

References

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Korean

Okinawan

Vietnamese

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