夏

夏 (Kangxi radical 35, 夊+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 一山竹水 (MUHE), four-corner 1024₇, composition ⿱𦣻夂(GJK) or ⿱𦣻夊(HT))

• 𠌘, 嗄, 𡏘, 𡟺, 𡺷, 𭡲, 𭱣, 榎, 𤌤, 𤧶, 𥔹, 𦥍, 𧏡, 𥜂, 𮢩, 𧈄, 𩡘, 𮬆, 𥫏, 𢥭, 𣣺, 𡕵, 𥻴, 𪄂, 𭐲, 𡙣, 𭔆, 𦷜, 𥧜, 厦, 𭕥, 廈, 𤹉, 𢟜, 𡖃

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 245, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5720
• Dae Jaweon: page 485, character 29
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 869, character 10
• Unihan data for U+590F

Historical forms of the character 夏
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	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

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 日 (“sun”) + 頁 (“head; man”) – man under the scorching sun; summer.

Various variants were seen in the bronze inscriptions from the Spring and Autumn period. 止 (“foot”) was often added to the bottom of the man. Additionally, in the form shown above, the 日 was removed and 𦥑 (“two hands”) was added. The seal script inherits its form from this form, with 止 replaced with the related 夊.

Various forms were also seen from the Warring States period. The bamboo and silk script above shows a common form: 日 + 止 + 頁. The “ancient script” (古文) from Shuowen (labelled as the large seal script) has deviated significantly, with 止 becoming the related 足. The top part may be a corruption of 頁.

The current form is simplified from the seal script, with the removal of 𦥑 and the legs from 頁.

“great; Xia Dynasty; China; Chinese”

Possibly related to 假 (OC *kraːʔ, *kraːs, “great”), 嘏 (OC *kraːʔ, “great”) and 廈 (OC *sraːs, *ɡraːʔ, “big house”) (Wang, 1980). Shi (2000) and Mair (2013) relate this word to Tibetan རྒྱ (rgya, “great; wide; width; size; expanse; China”).

“magnificent colours; variegated”

The sense “variegated” may be of a different origin. Compare Proto-Sino-Tibetan *Krā(H) (“variegated”) (Starostin), whence Tibetan བཀྲ (bkra, “variegated; bright; radiant; splendid”), Tibetan ཁྲ (khra, “many-coloured; variegated; mottled; striped”) and Burmese ကျား (kya:, “variegated; striped; chequered”). Possibly related to 騢 (OC *ɡraː, “horse with mixed red and white colour”).

夏

1. (～朝) (historical) the Xia dynasty (2070 BCE – 1600 BCE)
2. ^† (by extension) China; Chinese
3. ^† great; grand; magnificent
4. ^† magnificent colours; resplendent colours; variegated

   • 羽畎夏翟 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 7^th – 4^th centuries BCE

     yǔquǎn xiàdí [Pinyin]

     variegated long-tailed pheasants from the ravines of Feather Mountain

5. ^† Alternative form of 廈／厦 (“big house”)
6. a surname

   夏志清  ―  Xià Zhìqīng  ―  Hsia Chih-tsing (Chinese literary critic)

• (the Xia dynasty):

• → English: Hsia, Xia

Sagart (2023b) relates it to 暇 (OC *[g]ˤra-s) "leisure" and Burmese အား (a:, “to be free (not in use; without obligations)”), the latter of which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-ra (“strength; to win; classifier for people”) but does not compare to 夏 (OC *[g]ˤraʔ). See 暇 (xiá) for more.

夏

1. summer (season)

夏

1. ^† Alternative form of 檟／槚 (jiǎ)
2. Used in 陽夏／阳夏.

• “夏”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 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), A00837

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. summer
2. Xia dynasty
3. China

• Go-on: げ (ge, Jōyō ^†)
• Kan-on: か (ka, Jōyō)
• Kun: なつ (natsu, 夏, Jōyō)

/natu/ → /nat͡su/

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *natu.

• (Tokyo) なつ​ [nàtsúꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [na̠t͡sɨᵝ]

• Audio

  (file)

夏(なつ) • (natsu) 

1. summer (season)

   Synonym: 夏季, 夏期 (kaki)

   Hyponyms: 初夏, 真夏

• 夏(なつ)歌(うた)う者(もの)は冬(ふゆ)泣(な)く (natsu utau mono wa fuyu naku)
• 夏(なつ)の小(こ)袖(そで) (natsu no kosode)
• 夏(なつ)も小(こ)袖(そで) (natsu mo kosode)

夏(なつ) • (Natsu) 

1. a female given name
2. a surname

From Middle Chinese 夏 (MC haeH). The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing.

Also used in the Man'yōshū (759 CE) as 借音 (shakuon) kana for ⟨ge₁⟩.

• (Tokyo) げ​ [géꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
• IPA^(key): [ɡe̞]

夏(げ) • (ge) 

1. (Buddhism) summer according to the lunisolar calendar; the ninety days starting from the sixteenth day of the fourth month until the fifteenth day of the seventh month

• 夏(げ)解(あき), 夏明(げあ)き (geaki)
• 夏安居(げあんご) (geango)

• 安居(あんご) (ango)

From Middle Chinese 夏 (MC haeX).

The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing.

夏(か) • (Ka) 

1. the Xia dynasty (first dynasty of China)
2. Short for 大夏 (Daika): Xia, one of the Sixteen Kingdoms
3. Short for 西夏 (Seika): Western Xia, an empire during the Song dynasty
4. a surname
5. a male or female given name

From Middle Chinese 夏 (MC haeH).

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

Wikisource 夏 (eumhun 여름 하 (yeoreum ha))

1. Hanja form^? of 하 (“summer”).

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

夏: Hán Việt readings: hạ
夏: Nôm readings: hè

1. chữ Hán form of hạ (“summer”).
2. Nôm form of hè (“summer”).