彼 U+5F7C, 彼 ← 彻[U+5F7B] CJK Unified Ideographs 彽 →[U+5F7D] Stroke order(Chinese)

(Kangxi radical 60, 彳+5, 8 strokes, Cangjie input 竹人木竹水 (HODHE), four-corner 24247, composition ⿰彳皮)

  • 𠶎, 𢜢, 𢯏, 𣷭, 𣔓, 𥓳, 𩏃, 𩜔, 𡮌, 𦋕, 𠥌, 𣤳, 𩕂, 𥨑, 𠪍
  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 365, character 25
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10066
  • Dae Jaweon: page 685, character 18
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 817, character 10
  • Unihan data for U+5F7C

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *pralʔ): semantic + phonetic (OC *bral).

simp. and trad. alternative forms 佊

Related to 夫 (OC *pa, *ba, “that”) (Schuessler, 2007).

  1. (literary) that; those
  2. (literary) he; she; it
    • 夫撫劍疾視曰,『惡敢當我哉』!此匹夫之勇,敵一人者也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]夫抚剑疾视曰,『恶敢当我哉』!此匹夫之勇,敌一人者也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Mencius, c. 4th century BCEFū fǔjiàn jíshì yuē, ‘ wū gǎn dāng wǒ zāi’! Cǐ pǐfūzhīyǒng, dí yīrén zhě yě. [Pinyin]If a man brandishes his sword, looks fiercely, and says, “How dare he withstand me?” – this is the courage of a common man, who can be the opponent only of a single individual.
    • 用無為有,故謂矯,若有而謂有,夫豈為矯哉! [Classical Chinese, trad.]用无为有,故谓矫,若有而谓有,夫岂为矫哉! [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Mozi, c. 4th century BCE yòng wú wéi yǒu, gù wèi jiǎo, ruò yǒu ér wèi yǒu, fū qǐ wèi jiǎo zāi! [Pinyin]He made use of what did not exist as if it had existed, and therefore it was called pretension. If he declared to be existent what really existed, how would this be pretension?
    • 後昇天堂,坐在聖父上帝全能之右也,然將由天降地,以審判生死者。 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]后升天堂,坐在圣父上帝全能之右也,然将由天降地,以审判生死者。 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]hau6 sing1 tin1 tong4, zo6 zoi6 sing3 fu6 soeng6 dai3 cyun4 nang4 zi1 jau6 jaa5, jin4 bei2 zoeng1 jau4 tin1 gong3 dei6, ji5 sam2 pun3 sang1 sei2 ze2. [Jyutping]he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
  • (that):
  • (he):
  • (antonym(s) of “that”): 此 ()

Related to 許/许 (hí, hír, “that”); see there for more.

Pronunciation 2 is a fusion word of 許/许 (hí, hír, “that”) + 一 (it, “one”); compare Mandarin 那 (nèi), from 那 (, “that”) + 一 (, “one”) (Mei and Yang, 1995).

simp. and trad. alternative forms 許/许赫

  1. (Zhangzhou and Taiwanese Hokkien) that (demonstrative pronoun) 這是阮老母,是阮老爸。 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]这是阮老母,是阮老爸。 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]Che sī goán lāu-bó, he sī goán lāu-pē. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]This is my mother; that is my father.
    • 雅雯:你是誰 亞蘭:是台北人 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]雅雯:你是谁 亚兰:是台北人 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]Ngá-bûn: lí sī siáng, A-lân: he sī Tâi-pak lâng [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]Ya-Lan: “‘Who are you?'” / Olivia: “That‘s a Taipei person”

simp. and trad. alternative forms 許/许迄

  1. (Southern Min, Puxian Min) that (demonstrative determiner) 本冊/本册 [Taiwanese Hokkien] ― hit pún chheh [Pe̍h-ōe-jī] ― that book
  • “彼”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2026.

(Jōyō kanji)

  • Go-on: (hi, Jōyō)
  • Kan-on: (hi, Jōyō)
  • Kun: (a, )、あの (ano, 彼の)、あれ (are, )、あれ (are, 彼れ)、 (ka, )、かれ (kare, , Jōyō)、かの (kano, , Jōyō †)
  • Nanori: その (sono)

Kanji in this term 彼 かGrade: S kun’yomi

From Old Japanese.

  • IPA(key): [ka̠]
  • (Tokyo) か [káꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]

彼(か) • (ka)

  1. distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon

Kanji in this term 彼 かれGrade: S kun’yomi Alternative spelling 儂 (rare)

From Old Japanese. Compound of (ka, “that, yon”) +‎ (-re, nominalizing suffix for demonstratives). Found in the Man’yōshū compiled around 759.

The sense development seems to have proceeded from “that thing over there” to “that person over there [of indeterminate gender]”. The specifically male sense of “he” only arose later during the late Edo period and early Meiji period, influenced by translations of texts from European languages.[2][1]

  • IPA(key): [ka̠ɾe̞]
  • (Tokyo) かれ [káꜜrè] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]

彼(かれ) • (kare)

  1. distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon
  2. third person pronoun: he, she
    1. particularly, male personal third person pronoun: he Coordinate term: 彼女 (kanojo, “she”)
    2. by extension from he: boyfriend Synonym: 彼氏 (kareshi) Coordinate term: 彼女 (kanojo, “girlfriend”)

Kanji in this term 彼 か(の)Grade: S kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 彼 – see the following entry. 【かの】 [adnominal] that [one] (distant from both speaker and listener) [pronoun] (obsolete) you-know-who, you-know-what (This term, , is an alternative spelling of the above term.) Kanji in this term 彼 あGrade: S kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 彼 – see the following entry. 【あ】 [pronoun] distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon (This term, , is an alternative spelling of the above term.) Kanji in this term 彼 あれGrade: S kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 彼 – see the following entry. 【あれ】 [pronoun] distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon [pronoun] (deictically) that one over there (far from the speaker and the addressee) [pronoun] (anaphorically) that one we both know (both the speaker and the addressee know) [pronoun] (chiefly derogatory) third-person personal pronoun: he, she, that person [pronoun] you-know-what; a thing whose name the speaker does not want to mention [pronoun] sex [pronoun] cockroach [pronoun] (archaic) second-person pronoun: you [interjection] huh? (expression of surprise and confusion when talking to yourself) (This term, , is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

  • “彼”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015-2026

From Middle Chinese 彼 (MC pjeX). Recorded as Middle Korean 피〯 (phǐ) (Yale: phi) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

(eumhun 저 피 (jeo pi))

  1. hanja form? of (“that; those”)
  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [2]

彼: Hán Nôm readings: bỉ, bể, bở

  1. chữ Hán form of bỉ (“that, over there”)
  • 彼嗇斯豐 (bỉ sắc tư phong)