See also: and

下 - Translingual

Han character

(Kangxi radical 1, +2, 3 strokes, cangjie input 一卜 (MY), four-corner 10230, composition )

Derived characters

下 - Chinese

simp. and trad.
alternative forms ancient 𠄟

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Shang Western Zhou Spring and Autumn Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
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
Old Chinese
*ɡraːʔ
*ɡraːʔ, *ɡraːs
*ɡraːs, *ɡaːʔ

In oracle bone script, it is an ideogram (指事) that shows the concept of "down" by showing one line below another (contrast ). This form evolved into 下 in later scripts, the character used today.

Pronunciation

  • Mandarin
    • (Standard)
      • (Pinyin): xià (xia4)
      • (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄚˋ
    • (Chengdu, SP): ha4 / xia4
    • (Dungan, Cyrillic and Wiktionary): щя (xi͡a, I)
  • Cantonese (Jyutping): haa6, haa5
    • Gan (Wiktionary): ha2
    • Hakka
      • (Sixian, PFS): hâ / há / ha
      • (Meixian, Guangdong): ha4
    • Jin (Wiktionary): ha3 / xia3
    • Min Bei (KCR): hā / à
    • Min Dong (BUC): hâ / â / giâ
    • Min Nan
      • (Hokkien, POJ): / / / / hēe / hiěe / khē / khě / ē / ě / ēe / ěe / / / kēe / kiěe
      • (Teochew, Peng'im): hia6 / ê6 / ê7 / gê6 / hê6
    • Wu (Wiktionary): 3hho; 2xia; 3hhia
    • Xiang (Wiktionary): ha2
    • Dialectal data
    • Middle Chinese: /ɦˠaX/, /ɦˠaH/
    • Old Chinese
      • (Baxter–Sagart): /*ɡˤraʔ/, /*m-ɡˤraʔ-s/
      • (Zhengzhang): /*ɡraːʔ/, /*ɡraːs/

    Definitions

    1. (lower; inferior; located below)
      1. low position
      2. lower part of; under
        • 樹下树下   shùxià   under the tree
        •    lóuxià   downstairs
        1. under the influence of; with
      3. later; next
        • 世紀世纪   xià ge shìjì   the next century
        • 下卷   xiàjuǎn   Volume II
      4. inferior, poor
        •    xiàrén   servant
        •    xiàpǐn   inferior products
      5. (Min Dong, Min Nan, Xiang) low (quantity or absolute position)
        • () (Min Nan)
    2. (to go to a lower place)
      1. to go down; to descend (as complement) downwards; down
        •    Nǐ kuài xià lái.   Come down here.
        •    xiàhǎi   to go to sea
        •    xiàlóu   to go downstairs
        •    xiàshān   to go down the mountain
        • 走下   zǒuxià   to walk down
        •    luòxià   to fall down
        • 跳下深淵跳下深渊   tiàoxià shēnyuān   to jump down to an abyss
        1. (as complement) completely, thoroughly
      2. to get out of; to leave; to alight; to get off
        •    xiàchuán   to disembark from a boat
        • 下床   xiàchuáng   to get out of bed
        1. to finish, to complete
          •    xiàbān   to get off work
          •    xià   to finish class
      3. to go to somewhere considered poor or inferior
        •    xiàxiāng   to go to the countryside
        • 館子馆子   xiàguǎnzǐ   to go to the restaurant
        •    xià   to be forced to step down
      4. (colloquial) Short for 下線 (“to log out”).
    3. (to move something to a lower place)
      1. (with limited objects, often figuratively) to put something down
        •    xià   to start writing (lit., "to put the inkbrush down")
        •    xiàjiǎo   to have a small place to stand in (lit., "to put the feet down")
        •    xiàyào   to drug someone (lit., "to put the drug down")
        •    xià   to stay the night (lit., "to put the bed down")
        1. to put food into boiling water
          • 麵條面条   xià miàntiáo   to put noodles into boiling water
          • 餃子饺子   xià jiǎozǐ   to put dumplings into boiling water
        2. to rain or snow
          •    xiàxuě   to snow
          •    xià   to rain
        3. to give birth (as an animal)
          • 豬仔猪仔   xià zhūzaǐ   to have piglets
          •    xiàdàn   to lay eggs
        4. (colloquial) Short for 下載 (“to download”).
      2. to give or issue something to an inferior person
        •    xiàlìng   to issue an order
        1. to send an invitation
          • 戰書战书   xià zhànshū   to send a letter of challenge
      3. to conquer
        •    lián xià sān chéng   to achieve three goals successively (lit. "to conquer three forts successively")
    4. (a short time)
      1. (historical, obsolete) Synonym of (diǎn): an ancient unit of time, equal to 24 minutes
      2. (colloquial) (as complement) Short for 一下.
        • (Cantonese)
        1. for a short time; for one moment
          •    děng xià   wait a moment
        2. give something a go
          •    kàn xià   take a look
          • [Cantonese]   tai2 haa5 [Jyutping]   take a look
          • [Cantonese]   man4 haa5 [Jyutping]   try smelling it
      3. Classifier for the number of occurrences: time
        •    Qiāo sān xià mén.   Knock at the door three times.

    Synonyms

    Variety Location Words
    edit
    Formal (Written Standard Chinese)
    Mandarin Beijing
    Taiwan
    Yantai (Muping)
    Jinan
    Wanrong
    Xi'an
    Yinchuan
    Xining
    Ürümqi
    Yangzhou
    Malaysia
    Singapore
    Cantonese Guangzhou
    Hong Kong
    Yangjiang
    Nanning
    Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)
    Singapore (Guangfu)
    Gan Nanchang
    Pingxiang
    Hakka Meixian
    Jin Taiyuan
    Xinzhou
    Min Bei Jian'ou
    Min Nan Xiamen
    Quanzhou
    Zhangzhou
    Zhao'an
    Taipei GT
    Penang (Hokkien)
    Singapore (Hokkien)
    Manila (Hokkien)
    Chaozhou
    Shantou
    Jieyang
    Singapore (Teochew)
    Wenchang
    Haikou
    Qionghai
    Singapore (Hainanese)
    Zhongshan Min Shaxi (Longdu)
    Wu Shanghai
    Suzhou
    Hangzhou ,
    Hangzhou (Yuhang)
    Wenzhou
    Jinhua
    Note GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)
    Variety Location Words
    edit
    Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 一下
    Mandarin Taiwan 一下, 看看
    Malaysia 一下
    Singapore 一下
    Cantonese Guangzhou
    Hong Kong
    Macau
    Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)
    Singapore (Guangfu)
    Min Nan Xiamen 看覓
    Quanzhou 看覓
    Zhangzhou 看覓
    Taipei 看覓
    Kaohsiung 看覓
    Penang (Hokkien) 看覓
    Singapore (Hokkien) 看覓, 一下
    Manila (Hokkien) 看覓, 一下
    Chaozhou , 下睇
    Shantou 一下
    Singapore (Teochew)
    Wu Shanghai 一記,
    Suzhou 一記,
    Ningbo 一記,
    Variety Location Words
    edit
    Formal (Written Standard Chinese)
    Mandarin Beijing
    Taiwan
    Jinan
    Xi'an
    Wuhan ,
    Chengdu ,
    Yangzhou
    Hefei ,
    Malaysia
    Singapore
    Cantonese Guangzhou
    Hong Kong
    Taishan
    Yangjiang
    Singapore (Guangfu)
    Gan Nanchang ,
    Hakka Meixian ,
    Jin Taiyuan
    Min Bei Jian'ou
    Min Dong Fuzhou ,
    Min Nan Xiamen
    Quanzhou
    Zhangzhou
    Tainan
    Penang (Hokkien)
    Singapore (Hokkien)
    Manila (Hokkien)
    Chaozhou ,
    Shantou
    Jieyang
    Singapore (Teochew)
    Pontianak (Teochew)
    Singapore (Hainanese)
    Wu Suzhou
    Ningbo ,
    Zhoushan ,
    Wenzhou ,
    Xiang Changsha , ,
    Shuangfeng ,

    Compounds

    Descendants

    Sino-Xenic ():

    下 - Japanese

    Kanji

    (grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

    Readings

    Compounds

    Pronunciation

    • (Tokyo) [shìtá] (Heiban – [0])
    • IPA: [ɕi̥ta̠]

    Noun

    (した) (shita) 

    1. the underneath
      • Antonym: (ue)

    Derived terms


    Pronunciation

    • (Tokyo) [shìmóꜜ] (Odaka – [2])
    • IPA: [ɕimo̞]

    Noun

    (しも) (shimo) 

    1. the lower portion, end
      • Antonym: (kami)
    2. lowness in degree or rank
    3. the downstream portion of a river
    4. the downriver area
    5. the area farther from the capital
    6. the last part of a month, year, etc.
    7. the lower half of the body
    8. (euphemistic) privates
    9. (euphemistic) feces and urine, excrement

    Derived terms


    Alternative forms

    Pronunciation

    • (Tokyo) [mòtóꜜ] (Odaka – [2])
    • IPA: [mo̞to̞]

    Noun

    (もと) (moto) 

    1. the lower portion, base
    2. under the influence of

    Pronunciation

    • (Tokyo) [géꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])
    • (Tokyo) [gè] (Heiban – [0])
    • IPA: [ɡe̞]

    Noun

    () (ge) 

    1. the last volume in a two- or three-volume set

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: [ka̠]

    Affix

    () (ka) 

    1. down; below; beneath

    Suffix

    () (-ka) 

    1. under a situation

    下 - Korean

    Hanja

    (eumhun 아래 (arae ha))

    1. (only used in compounds) Hanja form? of (below; bottom; lower; underneath).

    Compounds

    下 - Okinawan

    Noun

    (hiragana しちゃ, romaji shicha)

    1. the below

    Derived terms

    下 - Old Japanese

    Noun

    (sita) (kana した)

    1. the below
      1. looking down
      2. a place
      • Antonym: (upe2)

    Derived terms

    • 下問ひ, 下訪ひ (sitado1pi1)
    • 下泣き (sitanaki1)
    • 天の下 (ame2no2sita)

    Descendants

    • Japanese: (shita)

    Noun

    (simo1 → simo) (kana しも)

    1. the lower part
      • Antonym: (kami1)

    Descendants

    • Japanese: (shimo)

    下 - Vietnamese

    Han character

    : Hán Việt readings: hạ : Nôm readings: hạ

    1. chữ Hán form of hạ (to lower; to bring down; to take down).

    Compounds

    Meaning and Definition of 下
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