差

Note that the character in simplified Chinese has 9 strokes. Simplified from 差 (𦍌丿 → ⺶)

Taiwan and Hong Kong stroke order

差 (Kangxi radical 48, 工+7 in traditional Chinese, 工+6 in simplified Chinese, 10 strokes in traditional Chinese, 9 strokes in simplified Chinese, cangjie input 廿手一 (TQM), four-corner 8021₁, composition ⿱𦍌⿰丿工(HTJK) or ⿸⺶工(GV))

Stroke order

• 傞 嗟 嵯 搓 槎 溠 瑳 磋 縒 艖 褨 蹉 醝 鎈 髊 䱹 鹺 瘥 嵳 蒫 齹 鮺 𪙉 𪚍

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 326, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8732
• Dae Jaweon: page 629, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 413, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5DEE

Historical forms of the character 差
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 來 (“wheat”) + 𠂇 (“left hand”) – to hull wheat by rubbing grains inside hands. Original form of 搓 (OC *sʰlaːl, “to rub with hands; to scrub; to twist”).

工 or 口 was later added under 𠂇 to form 左 (OC *ʔsaːlʔ, *ʔsaːls, “left”), which is also this character's phonetic component.

差

1. to differ from; to be different; dissimilar; incongruous
2. wrong; incorrect; erroneous
3. inferior; poor; substandard

   唱得好差 [Cantonese]  ―  coeng³ dak¹ hou² caa¹ [Jyutping]  ―  sing poorly

4. difference; discrepancy
5. mistake; wrongdoing
6. (mathematics) difference
7. to be short of; to fall short of
   • 1986, “跳舞街 [tiu3 mou5 gaai1]”, in 林敏驄 [lam4 man5 cung1] (lyrics), 反叛 [faan2 bun6], performed by 陳慧嫻 [can4 wai6 haan4]:

     差一分鐘　天就黑晒 [Cantonese, trad.]
     差一分钟　天就黑晒 [Cantonese, simp.]

     caa¹ jat¹ fan¹ zung¹, tin¹ zau⁶ haak¹ saai³ [Jyutping]

     just one more minute, and the sky will have darkened

8. to owe
9. rather; barely; nearly; almost
10. 11th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "divergence" (𝌐)

• (wrong):

• (inferior):

• (difference): 差數／差数 (chāshù)

差

1. to dispatch; to assign; to send on an errand
2. to select; to choose
3. (historical) runner; courier; envoy; messenger
4. (historical) corvée
5. errand; task

差

1. uneven; irregular; rough

   參差／参差  ―  cēncī  ―  uneven

2. to distinguish; to grade; to classify
3. grade; rank
4. limit; boundary

差

1. ^† Original form of 搓 (cuō, “to rub with one's hands; to scrub; to twist”).

差

1. ^† Original form of 瘥 (chài, “to recover from an illness”).

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: し (shi); しゃ (sha); せ (se)
• Kan-on: し (shi); さ (sa, Jōyō); さい (sai)
• Kun: さす (sasu, 差す, Jōyō); たがう (tagau, 差う); たがい (tagai)

From Middle Chinese 差 (MC tsrhje|tsrhea|tsrheaj|tsrhae|tsrheaH).

• (Tokyo) さ [sà] (Heiban – [0])[1]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠]

差(さ) • (sa) 

1. (generally) difference

   Synonyms: 差異 (sai), 違い (chigai)

   資(し)金(きん)力(りょく)で差(さ)を付(つ)ける

   shikin ryoku de sa o tsukeru

   to make a difference in the financial power

2. (arithmetic) difference

   Antonym: (sum) 和 (wa)

   九(きゅう)十(じゅう)と七(なな)十(じゅう)八(はち)の差(さ)は十(じゅう)二(に)である。

   Kyūjū to nanajūhachi no sa wa jūni de aru.

   The difference of ninety and seventy-eight is twelve.

• 被(ひ)減(げん)数(すう) (higensū); 減(げん)数(すう) (gensū)

From Middle Chinese 差 (MC tsrhea|tsrhae|tsrheaH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰa̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [차]

Wikisource 差 (eumhun 다를 차 (dareul cha))

1. Hanja form^? of 차 (“difference; to distinguish”).
2. Hanja form^? of 차 (“to select; to assign; to dispatch”).
3. Hanja form^? of 차 (“to recover from an illness”).

   쾌차 (快差) ― kwaecha ― complete recovery from an illness

From Middle Chinese 差 (MC tsrhje, “uneven”).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰi]
• Phonetic hangul: [치]

差 (eumhun 어긋날 치 (eogeunnal chi))

1. (literary) Hanja form^? of 치 (“uneven; irregular; rough”).

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

差: Hán Nôm readings: sai, sái, si, sươi, sau, sây, soa

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