文字

Chinese

		language; culture; writing language; culture; writing; formal; literary; gentle	letter; symbol; character letter; symbol; character; word
simp. and trad. (文字)		文	字

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): wénzì

  (Zhuyin): ㄨㄣˊ ㄗˋ

  (Dungan, Cyrillic and Wiktionary): вынзы (vɨnzɨ, I-III)

• Cantonese (Jyutping): man⁴ zi⁶

• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): vùn-sṳ
• Eastern Min (BUC): ùng-cê
• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): mong² zo⁵ / muong² zo⁵
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): bûn-lī / bûn-jī

  (Teochew, Peng'im): bhung⁵ ri⁷

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wénzì
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄣˊ ㄗˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wúnzìh
    • Wade–Giles: wên²-tzŭ⁴
    • Yale: wén-dz̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wentzyh
    • Palladius: вэньцзы (vɛnʹczy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wən³⁵ t͡sz̩⁵¹/
  • (Dungan)
    • Cyrillic and Wiktionary: вынзы (vɨnzɨ, I-III)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /vəŋ²⁴ t͡sz̩⁴⁴/

    (Note: Dungan pronunciation is currently experimental and may be inaccurate.)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: man⁴ zi⁶
    • Yale: màhn jih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: man⁴ dzi⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: men⁴ ji⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐn²¹ t͡siː²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: vùn-sṳ
    • Hakka Romanization System: vun^ˇ sii
    • Hagfa Pinyim: vun² si⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /vun¹¹ sɨ⁵⁵/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: ùng-cê
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /uŋ⁵³⁻²¹ ^(t͡s-)ʒɛi²⁴²/
• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: mong² zo⁵ [Phonetic: mong⁴ zo⁵]
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɔŋ¹³⁻⁴² t͡so²¹/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: muong² zo⁵ [Phonetic: muong⁴ zo⁵]
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /muoŋ¹³⁻⁴² t͡sɵ²¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, General Taiwanese, Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bûn-lī
    • Tâi-lô: bûn-lī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bunli
    • IPA (Taipei): /bun²⁴⁻¹¹ li³³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /bun²⁴⁻²² li⁴¹/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bun²³⁻³³ li³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /bun²⁴⁻²² li²²/
  • (Hokkien: Kaohsiung, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bûn-jī
    • Tâi-lô: bûn-jī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bunji
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bun²³⁻³³ zi³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bun¹³⁻²² d͡zi²²/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: bhung⁵ ri⁷
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: bûng jī
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /buŋ⁵⁵⁻¹¹ d͡zi¹¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: mjun dziH

Rime
Character	文	字
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)	從 (15)
Final (韻)	文 (59)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	無分切	疾置切
Baxter	mjun	dziH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mɨun/	/d͡zɨH/
Pan Wuyun	/miun/	/d͡zɨH/
Shao Rongfen	/miuən/	/d͡zieH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/mun/	/d͡zɨH/
Li Rong	/miuən/	/d͡ziəH/
Wang Li	/mĭuən/	/d͡zĭəH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/mi̯uən/	/d͡zʱiH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	wén	zì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	man4	zi6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*mə[n]  mə-dzə(ʔ)-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mɯn  zlɯs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	文	字
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	wén	zì
Middle Chinese	‹ mjun ›	‹ dziH ›
Old Chinese	/*mə[n]/	/*mə-dzə(ʔ)-s/
English	ornate	breed, love (v.); character
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	文	字
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	13015	17864
Phonetic component	文	子
Rime group	文	之
Rime subdivision	1	0
Corresponding MC rime	文	字
Old Chinese	/*mɯn/	/*zlɯs/
Notes		子分化字

Noun

文字

1. written symbols; writing; script; text; characters (Classifier: 種／种; 個／个)
2. writing style wording; language (Classifier: 種／种; 個／个)

Synonyms

• (writing): 筆墨／笔墨 (bǐmò)

Derived terms

• 古文字 (gǔwénzì)
• 拉丁化新文字 (Lādīnghuà Xīn Wénzì)
• 拼音文字 (pīnyīn wénzì)
• 文字學／文字学 (wénzìxué)
• 文字改革 (wénzì gǎigé)
• 文字獄／文字狱 (wénzìyù)
• 文字處理／文字处理
• 文字處理機／文字处理机 (wénzì chǔlǐjī)
• 新文字 (Xīn Wénzì)
• 甲骨文字 (jiǎgǔ wénzì)
• 線形文字／线形文字 (xiànxíng wénzì)
• 繪文字／绘文字 (huìwénzì)
• 表意文字 (biǎoyì wénzì)
• 表音文字 (biǎoyīn wénzì)
• 象形文字 (xiàngxíng wénzì)
• 頭文字／头文字 (tóuwénzì)

 

Related terms

• 書寫系統／书写系统 (shūxiě xìtǒng)
• 文學／文学 (wénxué)
• 語文／语文 (yǔwén)
• 語言／语言 (yǔyán)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (文字):

• → Japanese: 文(もん)字(じ) (monji)
• → Korean: 문자(文字) (munja)
• → Vietnamese: văn tự (文字)

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
文	字
もん Grade: 1	じ Grade: 1
goon

From Middle Chinese 文字 (MC mjun dziH, literally “writing + character”). Compare modern Cantonese reading man⁴ zi⁶.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) もんじ [móꜜǹjì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [mõ̞ɲ̟d͡ʑi]

Noun

文(もん)字(じ) • (monji) 

1. a letter, a character (symbol for a sound or a word)
2. (linguistics) script, writing system
3. (specific to Japanese) a written mora, a kana
4. writing in general, written words
5. (by extension from the “writing” sense) a document
6. (by extension from the “writing” sense) reading and writing
7. (by extension from the “writing” sense) studies

Usage notes

This reading is less common than moji, below.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
文	字
もん > も Grade: 1	じ Grade: 1
irregular	goon

/mond͡ʑi/ → /mod͡ʑi/

Sound shift from monji above.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) もじ [móꜜjì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [mo̞ʑi]

Noun

文(も)字(じ) • (moji) 

1. a letter or character (symbol for a sound or a word)
2. (linguistics) script, writing system
3. (specific to Japanese) a written mora, a kana
4. writing in general, written words
5. (by extension from the “writing” sense) a document
6. (by extension from the “writing” sense) reading and writing
7. (by extension from the “writing” sense) studies
8. (chiefly Kansai) the tails side of a coin, the side with writing on it
9. (chiefly Kansai, by extension) a coin, money

Usage notes

This reading is more common than monji above.

The tails and coin, money senses are specific to this moji reading.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 顔(かお)文(も)字(じ) (kaomoji): smiley
• 絵(え)文(も)字(じ) (emoji): emoji (not to be confused with emoticon)
• 大(おお)文(も)字(じ) (ōmoji): uppercase letter
• 小(こ)文(も)字(じ) (komoji): lowercase letter
• キリル文(も)字(じ) (kiriru moji): Cyrillic letter
• 文(も)字(じ)通(どお)り (mojidōri): literal, literally
• 文(も)字(じ)化(ば)け (mojibake): corrupt characters or letters, especially from display or transfer through an inappropriate character set or encoding, e.g., •¶Žš‰»‚¯, which is a corruption of 文字化け

Korean

Hanja in this term
文	字

Noun

文字 • (munja) (hangeul 문자)

1. hanja form^? of 문자 (“letter”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
文	字

Noun

文字

1. chữ Hán form of văn tự (“writing system, script”).