事

事 U+4E8B, 事 ← 亊[U+4E8A] CJK Unified Ideographs 二 →[U+4E8C] Stroke order Stroke order

事 (Kangxi radical 6, 亅+7, 8 strokes, Cangjie input 十中中弓 (JLLN), four-corner 50007, composition ⿻⿱𠮛⺕亅)

• 倳, 𠶝, 𢜝, 𣓊, 𧨴, 𨧫(𬭑), 𫻋, 䭄, 𫻐, 剚, 𠡯, 𠄜, 𡸪, 𠡸, 𱠉

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 85, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 241
• Dae Jaweon: page 174, character 15
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 23, character 3
• Unihan data for U+4E8B

simp. and trad. 事 2nd round simp. ⿱㇋丶 alternative forms

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 又 (“hand”) + 中 (“a flagpole with a drum”) – flag in hand > to perform one’s job. Compare 吏. Furthermore, both characters are related to 史, which is a variant without the horizontal stroke on top.

Exopassive of 士 (OC *zrɯʔ, “to give or carry out an assignment; to serve”), literally “what has been assigned” (Schuessler, 2007).

Alternatively, based on Gong (2000), STEDT derives it from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-dzas (“thing”), whence Burmese စာ (ca, “thing”) and Tibetan རྫས (rdzas, “thing, object, matter”).

事

1. thing; matter (Classifier: 件 m c; 樁／桩 m; 回 m; 條／条 mn-t) 唔係咩大件事 [Cantonese, trad.]唔系咩大件事 [Cantonese, simp.]m4 hai6 me1 daai6 gin6 si6 [Jyutping]is not anything terribly important(literally, “is not any sort of large matter”) 到底係咩回事呀？ [Cantonese, trad.]到底系咩回事呀？ [Cantonese, simp.]dou3 dai2 hai6 me1 wui4 si6 aa3? [Jyutping]What happened? / Exactly what is happening?(literally, “Exactly what matter is it?”)
   • 耶和華神對女人說，你作的是什麼事呢？女人說，那蛇引誘我，我就吃了。 [MSC, trad.]耶和华神对女人说，你作的是什么事呢？女人说，那蛇引诱我，我就吃了。 [MSC, simp.]From: 新標點和合本 (Chinese Union Version with New Punctuation), 創世記 (Genesis) 2:7Yēhéhuá shén duì nǚrén shuō, nǐ zuò de shì shénme shì ne? Nǚrén shuō, nà shé yǐnyòu wǒ, wǒ jiù chī le. [Pinyin]And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
   • 今日我們傳你來，有遵旨問你的事。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]今日我们传你来，有遵旨问你的事。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]From: Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber, mid-18th century CEJīnrì wǒmen chuán nǐ lái, yǒu zūnzhǐ wèn nǐ de shì. [Pinyin]We called you here today, because we’d like to follow the emperor’s order and ask you some things.
2. task; work; job; career
   • 茅盾的一個親戚，想到我在教書的教會學校裡來找事做了。 [MSC, trad.]茅盾的一个亲戚，想到我在教书的教会学校里来找事做了。 [MSC, simp.]From: 1935 April, 魏金枝, 《再說“賣文”》, in 《文飯小品》, issue 3Máo Dùn de yīge qīnqī, xiǎng dào wǒ zài jiāoshū de jiàohuì xuéxiào lǐ lái zhǎo shì zuò le. [Pinyin]A relative of Mao Dun would like to find work in the Catholic school that I teach at.
3. misfortune; mishap; accident; incident 惹事 ― rěshì ― to cause trouble 你冇事就好。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]nei5 mou5 si6 zau6 hou2. [Jyutping]I am glad to see that you are fine.
4. responsibility; involvement 這裡沒你的事。／这里没你的事。 ― Zhèlǐ méi nǐ de shì. ― You have no business here. 唔關我事㗎／唔关我事㗎 [Cantonese] ― m4 gwaan1 ngo5 si6 gaa3 [Jyutping] ― It has nothing to do with me!
5. (dialectal Hakka, Northern Min, Central Min) speech; words; language 建甌事／建瓯事 [Northern Min] ― Gṳ̿ing-é-dī [Kienning Colloquial Romanized] ― Jian’ou dialect
6. (literary) to serve; to attend to someone
   • 李嶠，字巨山，趙州贊皇人。早孤，事母孝。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]李峤，字巨山，赵州赞皇人。早孤，事母孝。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]From: The New Book of Tang, 1060 CELǐ Qiáo, zì Jùshān, Zhàozhōu Zànhuáng rén. Zǎo gū, shì mǔ xiào. [Pinyin]Li Qiao, courtesy name Jushan, was a native of Zanhuang, Zhaozhou. His father died when he was young, and he served his mother with filial piety.
   • 讓我愛而不受感戴，讓我事而不受賞賜。 [MSC, trad.]让我爱而不受感戴，让我事而不受赏赐。 [MSC, simp.]Ràng wǒ ài ér bù shòu gǎndài, ràng wǒ shì ér bù shòu shǎngcì. [Pinyin]Let me love and not be respected;Let me serve and not be rewarded.
   • 有時走天堂窄路或會有困苦，忠心事主一生都蒙福。 [MSC, trad.]有时走天堂窄路或会有困苦，忠心事主一生都蒙福。 [MSC, simp.]From: 1984 [1986], Frank C. Huston, translated by 劉福羣 [William C. Newbern] and 何統雄 [Richard Ho], revised by 滕近輝 [Philip Teng], 《事主蒙福》 [“It Pays to Serve Jesus”], in 《生命聖詩》 [Hymns of Life], song #478Yǒushí zǒu tiāntáng zhǎilù huò huì yǒu kùnkǔ, zhōngxīn shì Zhǔ yīshēng dōu méngfú. [Pinyin]Though the pathway to glory may sometimes be drear, You’ll be happy each step of the way. [original English lyrics]Walking on the narrow road to Heaven may sometimes be miserable, You’ll be blessed all your life serving the Lord faithfully. [literal English translation]
7. to be engaged in 不事生產／不事生产 ― bù shì shēngchǎn ― to lead an idle life
8. (Beijing Mandarin, erhua-ed) fussy; pernickety; troublesome 他這人特事兒。／他这人特事儿。 ― Tā zhè rén tè shìr. ― He is a very fussy person.
9. 27th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; “duties” (𝌠)

事

1. alternative form of 倳 (zì, “to establish”)
2. alternative form of 剚 (zì, “to stab”)

• “事”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014-
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00048

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: じ (ji, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kan’yō-on: ず (zu, Jōyō †)
• Kun: こと (koto, 事, Jōyō)、つかう (tsukau, 事う)←つかふ (tukafu, 事ふ, historical)、つかえる (tsukaeru, 事える)←つかへる (tukaferu, 事へる, historical)
• Nanori: ろ (ro)

As an alternative form of 倳 and 剚:

• Go-on: し (shi)
• Kan-on: し (shi)
• Kun: さす (sasu, 事す)、たてる (tateru, 事てる)

Kanji in this term 事 ことGrade: 3 kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 事 – see the following entry. 【こと】 [noun] broadly, any abstract thing, affair, matter, or fact [noun] a thing, occasion, circumstances, detail, particular [noun] act of (word used for the nominalization of verbs, adjectives, or phrases) [noun] (by extension) experience, having been or done (used with ある (aru, “have, possess”)) [noun] event of special importance: affair, something, incident, case, occurrence, trouble [noun] business matters, affairs, business, work, duty [noun] Used as a nominalizer for precepts. [noun] It is said that; I’ve heard that (used with とのこと) [noun] Used to introduce aliases/stage names. [noun] (not productive) forms adverbs from i-adjectives; -ly (only in 早(はや)いこと (hayai koto), うまいこと (umai koto), 長(なが)いこと (nagai koto)) (This term, 事, is an alternative spelling of the above term.) Kanji in this term 事 じGrade: 3 goon

From Middle Chinese 事 (MC dzriH, “thing, matter; task, job”).

• IPA(key): [d͡ʑi]

事(じ) • (ji)

1. thing
2. work, job, business
3. to serve, to work for

Kanji in this term 事 こと > ごとGrade: 3 kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 事 – see the following entry. 【ごと】 [suffix] nominalizer for an action (This term, 事, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

• “事”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[2] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015-2026

From Middle Chinese 事 (MC dzriH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [sʰa̠(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [사(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

事 (eumhun 일 사 (il sa))

1. hanja form? of 사 (“thing; matter”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

事: Hán Việt readings: sự[1][2][3][4][5] 事: Nôm readings: sự[1][2][4][6], xì[3]

事 • (sự)

1. chữ Hán form of sự
   1. deed; act
   2. matter; affair; occurrence; happening

事 • (xì)

1. chữ Nôm form of xì (“to leak out, to escape”)