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巳

sì

Meanings

CC-CEDICT

sì
  1. 1.6th earthly branch: 9-11 a.m., 4th solar month (5th May-5th June), year of the Snake
  2. 2.ancient Chinese compass point: 150°

CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA

Wiktionary

  1. 1.sixth of twelve earthly branches (十二支 (shí'èrzhī))
  2. 2.snake (蛇 (shé)) of Chinese zodiac

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Etymology

Two different theories: * Pictogram (象形) of a fetus (it can be seen in 包, 胞. In 包, the radical should represent the placenta. 胞 today means "cell"). * Pictogram (象形) of a snake (therefore, it should be similar to 巴). This theory is found in the Shuowen Jiezi, which however is not based on oracle bones versions of characters. The character is similar to 已, which cannot be found in the Shuowen Jiezi. 巳 (OC s-ləʔ) displaced 子 (OC tsəʔ), the original sixth earthly branch which denoted the moon's "coming forth" stage (i.e. early waning-gibbous phase) "due to phonological closeness (combined with the semantic opacity of the Branch terms at later eras)" (Smith, 2011). Association with the snake was possibly arbitrary, analogous to how 辰, the fifth earthly branch, was arbitrarily associated with the dragon (Ferlus, 2013).

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Stroke order

Components

巳尸㇟

Components from cjk-decomp · MIT

More examples & usage (AI)

Derived terms

上巳巳時巳时巳蛇

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Related words

巳时 9-11 am (in the system of two-hour subdivisions used in former times)丁巳 fifty-fourth year D6 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 1977 or 2037辛巳 eighteenth year H6 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 2001 or 2061己巳 sixth year F6 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 1989 or 2049癸巳 thirtieth year J6 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 2013 or 2073乙巳 forty-second year B6 of the 60 year cycle, e.g. 1965 or 2025巳蛇 Year 6, year of the Snake (e.g. 2001)丁巳复辟 see 张勋复辟[Zhāng Xūn Fù bì]