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是

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See also: 昰
是 U+662F, 是
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-662F
← 昮
[U+662E] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 昰 →
[U+6630]

Translingual

More information Stroke order ...
More information Stroke order ...

Han character

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

  1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №32

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 493, character 26
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13859
  • Dae Jaweon: page 858, character 6
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1497, character 5
  • Unihan data for U+662F
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Chinese

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

Glyph origin

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

Originally a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, 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] > this, it [object recapitulation], be right, correct, so > to be, indeed”. The modern copulative sense only emerged by the Eastern Han dynasty (Dobson, 1964; Norman, 1988; Zürcher, 2013), and gradually replaced the archaic 唯 (OC *ɢʷi, “to be”) and the classical copulative construction with 也 (OC *laːlʔ).

This was due to the lack of a left-branching copula as archaic 唯 shifted into a contrasting and restricting particle, as well as its frequent use in presentational copulative constructions, often in the form of "A, 是 B 也" ("A, this is B"), which led to it being gradually reinterpreted as the copula instead of 也. Also note the semantic opposition with literary negative copula 非 (OC *pɯl) as in "right" and "wrong", which emerged by the Warring States period from the frequent collocation of the expression "是 X 也, 非 Y 也" (This is X, not Y) (Pulleyblank, 1995) .

To understand this development, compare 之 (OC *tjɯ, “him, it, this > possessive”), 其 (OC *kɯ, “he, his, its > dialectal possessive”). Compare French c'est which in colloquial speech often replaces copula est, as well as Japanese は, the topic particle like Old Chinese 者 (OC *tjaːʔ), 也 (OC *laːlʔ, “topicalizer”) and left-branching 夫 (OC *ba), but frequently misinterpreted as the copula by learners.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-daj ~ m-di (“that; this”). In Chinese, cognate with 寔 (OC *djɯɡ, “this (subject contrastive)”), 實 (OC *ɦliɡ, “this (subject contrastive)”), 之 (OC *tjɯ, “this; him; her; it (oblique)”), 諟 (OC *djeʔ, “to examine, to consider”). In Tibeto-Burman, cognate with Tibetan དེ (de, “that”), Jingpho dai, ndai (“this”), and Burmese ဒီ (di, “this”).

Pronunciation 1

Note: sih7 - new reading (e.g. 是不是).
Note: 4ze (Shaoxingese) - vernacular pronunciation.
Note:
  • shr5 - vernacular;
  • shr4 - literary.
    More information Rime, Character ...
    More information Character, Reading # ...
    More information Zhengzhang system (2003), Character ...

    Definitions

    是

    1. (literary) this; this thing
      是日  ―  shìrì  ―  this day
      1. (literary, archaic) a pronoun that refers to an anteposed object of the verb, usually introduced by the a topicalizer or constrative like 唯 in the form of 唯 …… 是 + V, adding emphasis to the object of the verb. Compare 之 (zhī), which as a pronoun can also refers to the topic as the object, and in earlier forms was also placed before the verb.
        唯余馬首是瞻 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
        唯余马首是瞻 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]
        From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4th century BCE
        wéi yú mǎ shǒu shì zhān [Pinyin]
        Just look at my horse's head
    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。 [MSC, trad.]
        房子前面是禾场。 [MSC, simp.]
        Fángzǐ qiánmiàn shì hécháng. [Pinyin]
        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。 [MSC, trad.]
      我是昨天买的票。 [MSC, simp.]
      Wǒ shì zuótiān mǎi de piào. [Pinyin]
      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.
      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. a particle used in an alternative or a negative question
      你是喝茶還是喝咖啡？ [MSC, trad.]
      你是喝茶还是喝咖啡？ [MSC, simp.]
      Nǐ shì hēchá háishì hē kāfēi? [Pinyin]
      Would you like coffee or tea?
    6. (in affirmative answers) yes; right
      你是張三嗎？是。 [MSC, trad.]
      你是张三吗？是。 [MSC, simp.]
      Nǐ shì Zhāng Sān ma? Shì. [Pinyin]
      Are you Zhang San? Yes.
      是，長官。／是，长官。  ―  Shì, zhǎngguān.  ―  Yes, sir.
      是，明白了。  ―  Shì, míngbái le.  ―  Yes, got it.
    7. true; correct
      不是  ―  búshì  ―  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 guóshì  ―  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")
    8. a surname
    Usage notes

    When translated as "to be", 是 is used only to link two nouns or nominal expressions.

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

    是 is not used to link a noun and an adjective. The following sentence would be incorrect:

    *這是好／*这是好  ―  * zhè shì hǎo  ―  *

    The correct sentence is

    這很好／这很好  ―  zhè hěn hǎo  ―  This is (very) good

    Here, 很 (hěn) is used as a filler to link a noun and an adjective and is not interpreted as "very".

    A way to use 是 with an adjective is to use 的 (de) after the adjective to turn it into a noun.

    那隻貓是黑的／那只猫是黑的  ―  nà zhī māo shì hēi de  ―  That cat is black (That cat is a black one)
    Synonyms
    Dialectal synonyms of 這 (“this”) [map]
    More information Variety, Location ...
    Dialectal synonyms of 是 (“to be (+ noun)”) [map]
    More information Variety, Location ...
    Descendants
    • Wutunhua: hai
    Compounds

    Pronunciation 2

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

    Definitions

    是

    1. (Northern Wu) Pronominal prefix
      是我 [Northern Wu]  ―  I, me
    Compounds

    References

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