七夕

Chinese

		seven	dusk; evening
trad. (七夕)		七	夕
simp. #(七夕)		七	夕

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Qīxī, Qīxì

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧ ㄒㄧ, ㄑㄧ ㄒㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): cat¹ zik⁶
• Eastern Min (BUC): Chék-sĭk
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): Chhit-se̍k / Chhit-sia̍h

  (Teochew, Peng'im): cig⁴ sêg⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Qīxī
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧ ㄒㄧ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Cisi
    • Wade–Giles: Chʻi¹-hsi¹
    • Yale: Chī-syī
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Chishi
    • Palladius: Циси (Cisi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi⁵⁵ ɕi⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Qīxì
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧ ㄒㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Cisì
    • Wade–Giles: Chʻi¹-hsi⁴
    • Yale: Chī-syì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Chishih
    • Palladius: Циси (Cisi)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi⁵⁵ ɕi⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: cat¹ zik⁶
    • Yale: chāt jihk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsat⁷ dzik⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ced¹ jig⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɐt̚⁵ t͡sɪk̚²/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: Chék-sĭk
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰiʔ²⁴⁻²¹ siʔ⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, variant in Taiwan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhit-se̍k
    • Tâi-lô: Tshit-si̍k
    • Phofsit Daibuun: chitsek
    • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /t͡sʰit̚³²⁻⁴ siɪk̚⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhit-sia̍h
    • Tâi-lô: Tshit-sia̍h
    • Phofsit Daibuun: chitsiah
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /t͡sʰit̚³²⁻⁴ siaʔ⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: cig⁴ sêg⁴
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tshik sek
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰik̚²⁻⁴ sek̚²/

Proper noun

七夕

1. (～節) Qixi Festival (the Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month)

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 七夕 (“Qixi Festival”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		七夕
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	七夕
	Harbin	七月七
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	七月七
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	七月兒七
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	祈巧節, 七月七
	Wanrong	七月七
	Xi'an	七月七
	Xining	乞巧, 七月七
	Xuzhou	七月七
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	七夕, 乞巧節
	Lanzhou	七月七
	Ürümqi	七月七
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	七月初七, 七月七, 乞巧節
	Wuhan	七月七
	Guiyang	七月初七, 七月七
	Liuzhou	七月七
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	七月七, 七巧
	Yangzhou	七巧
Cantonese	Guangzhou	七姐節
	Hong Kong	七姐誕, 七夕
	Dongguan	七月初七
Gan	Lichuan	七夕
	Pingxiang	七月七
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	七月七, 七娘生
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	七月七, 七娘生
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	七月七, 七娘生
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	七月七, 七星娘生, 七娘生
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	七月七, 七娘生
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	七月七, 七娘生
Huizhou	Jixi	七月七
Jin	Taiyuan	七月七
	Xinzhou	七月兒七
Northern Min	Jian'ou	七月七
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	七月七, 七月七夕
Southern Min	Xiamen	七娘媽生
	Quanzhou	七娘媽生
	Zhangzhou	七娘媽生
	Taipei	七娘媽生
	Kaohsiung	七娘媽生
	Yilan	七夕
	Changhua (Lukang)	七娘媽生
	Taichung	七娘媽生
	Taichung (Wuqi)	七娘媽生
	Tainan	七娘媽生
	Taitung	七夕
	Hsinchu	七娘媽生
	Penghu (Magong)	七夕
	Haikou	七月初七暝
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	拜七姐
Wu	Shanghai	七月七, 七巧日, 七巧節
	Shanghai (Chongming)	七月七
	Suzhou	七夕, 七月七
	Danyang	七巧, 七夕
	Hangzhou	七巧
	Ningbo	七月七
	Wenzhou	七月七
	Jinhua	七月七
Xiang	Changsha	七巧節

Derived terms

• 七夕乞巧
• 七夕紅／七夕红
• 七夕錢／七夕钱
• 七夕鍼／七夕针

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (七夕):

• → Japanese: 七夕(しちせき) (shichiseki)
• → Korean: 칠석(七夕) (chilseok)
• → Vietnamese: Thất Tịch (七夕)

Japanese

Etymology 1

七夕: Tanabata in Sendai, 2005

Kanji in this term
七	夕
たなばた
Grade: 1	Grade: 1
jukujikun

Alternative spellings
棚機 棚幡 織女

Origins somewhat obscure.

The latter bata portion is generally accepted to be from 機 (hata, “a loom”). The hata reading for 機 changes to bata as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The former tana portion may be from 棚 (tana, “a shelf, or a board placed lengthwise in a bridge”), in reference to an ancient ritual whereby a maiden would weave a special cloth on a hata in order to secure a bountiful harvest, as an offering for a god coming across a body of water via a tana. A related theory states that tana is instead an alteration of 種 (tane, “seed”). Yet another theory states that tana is an alteration of 手 (ta, “hand”, unbound Old Japanese form) + な (na, Old Japanese possessive particle superseded by no).

The common spelling of 七夕 is an example of jukujikun, since the festival is held on the seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, now generally observed on 7 July.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) たなばた [tànábátá] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠na̠ba̠ta̠]

Noun

七夕(たなばた) • (tanabata) 

1. a type of loom (the original meaning)
2. a type of weaving
3. by extension, a weaver
4. (figuratively) any extremely rare visit, or the person so visiting

Proper noun

七夕(たなばた) • (Tanabata) 

1. the Tanabata Japanese star festival, observed on 7 July

Synonyms

• 七夕(たなばた)祭(まつ)り (Tanabata matsuri)
• 星(ほし)祭(まつ)り (Hoshi matsuri)
• 七日(なぬか)盆(ぼん) (Nanuka Bon)

Further reading

• List of festivals in Japan on Wiktionary
• List of festivals in Japan on Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
七	夕
しち Grade: 1	せき Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese compound 七夕 (MC tshit zjek, literally “seventh evening”). Compare modern Mandarin 七夕 (Qīxī).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しちせき [shìchíꜜsèkì] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [ɕit͡ɕise̞kʲi]

Proper noun

七(しち)夕(せき) • (Shichiseki) 

1. the Tanabata Japanese star festival, observed on 7 July
2. the Chinese Qīxī Festival, also sometimes referred to as the Double Seventh Festival

Korean

Hanja in this term
七	夕

Noun

七夕 • (chilseok) (hangeul 칠석)

1. hanja form^? of 칠석 (“Qixi”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
七	夕

Noun

七夕

1. chữ Hán form of Thất Tịch (“Qixi”).