它

See also: 牠

它 U+5B83, 它 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5B83 ← 宂 [U+5B82] CJK Unified Ideographs 宄 → [U+5B84]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

它 (Kangxi radical 40, 宀+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 十心 (JP), four-corner 3071₁, composition ⿱宀匕)

Derived characters

• 佗, 沱, 陀, 柁, 蛇, 舵, 詑(𫍡), 鉈(铊), 駝(驼), 鴕(鸵)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 281, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7057
• Dae Jaweon: page 551, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 910, character 3
• Unihan data for U+5B83

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 它
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (它) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
佗	*l̥ʰaːl, *l'aːl
拕	*l̥ʰaːl, *l'aːlʔ
它	*l̥ʰaːl
蛇	*l̥ʰaːl, *ɦljaːl, *lal
袉	*l̥ʰaːlʔ, *l'aːl, *l'aːlʔ
鴕	*l'aːl
駝	*l'aːl
紽	*l'aːl
鮀	*l'aːl
陀	*l'aːl
沱	*l'aːl, *l'aːlʔ
跎	*l'aːl
詑	*l'aːl, *l'aːlʔ, *hlel, *lal, *l̥ʰoːl
酡	*l'aːl
迱	*l'aːl
舵	*l'aːlʔ
柁	*l'aːlʔ
鉈	*ɦljaːl, *hljal

Pictogram (象形) : a snake. This is now written as the derivative 蛇 (OC *l̥ʰaːl, *ɦljaːl, *lal).

The character was later borrowed for the then-homophonous third-person pronoun (“he/she/it”). Today 他 (tā) is used for male or gender-unspecified “he” and 她 (tā) for “she”.

Pronunciation 1

trad.		它/牠
simp.		它
牠 - chiefly used to refer to animals

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tā (ta¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄚ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): taa¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): thâ
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): thaⁿ / tha / tho / tô
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹ta

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tā
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄚ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ta
    • Wade–Giles: tʻa¹
    • Yale: tā
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ta
    • Palladius: та (ta)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰä⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: taa¹
    • Yale: tā
    • Cantonese Pinyin: taa¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ta¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰaː⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: thâ
    • Hakka Romanization System: ta^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ta¹
    • Sinological IPA: /tʰa²⁴/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thaⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: thann
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tvaf
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰã³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /tʰã⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tha
    • Tâi-lô: tha
    • Phofsit Daibuun: taf
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tʰa⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tho
    • Tâi-lô: tho
    • Phofsit Daibuun: toy
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰɤ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰo³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /tʰo⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tô
    • Tâi-lô: tô
    • Phofsit Daibuun: dooi
    • IPA (Xiamen): /to²⁴/

Note:

• thaⁿ/tha - vernacular;
• tho/tô - literary.

• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹ta
    • MiniDict: ta^平
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹ta
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ta⁵³/

---

• Middle Chinese: tha

Rime
Character	它
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	透 (6)
Final (韻)	歌 (94)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	託何切
Baxter	tha
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰɑ/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰɑ/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɑ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰa/
Li Rong	/tʰɑ/
Wang Li	/tʰɑ/
Bernhard Karlgren	/tʰɑ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tuō
Expected Cantonese Reflex	to1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*l̥ˤaj/

  (Zhengzhang): /*l̥ʰaːl/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	它
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	tā
Middle Chinese	‹ tha ›
Old Chinese	/*l̥ˁaj/
English	another
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	它
Reading #	1/1
No.	12210
Phonetic component	它
Rime group	歌
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	佗
Old Chinese	/*l̥ʰaːl/

Definitions

它

1. third-person singular pronoun for inanimate objects; it

   這是一份非常重要的文件，千萬不要把它丟掉。 [MSC, trad.]
   这是一份非常重要的文件，千万不要把它丢掉。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè shì yī fèn fēicháng zhòngyào de wénjiàn, qiānwàn bùyào bǎ tā diūdiào. [Pinyin]

   This is a very important document; you must not lose it.

2. (chiefly simplified Chinese) third-person singular pronoun for animals; it
3. (obsolete) general third-person singular pronoun; he; she; they (singular); it
4. A dummy pronoun.

   Alternative form: 他

   • c. 1980s – 1992, 单田芳, 21:43 from the start, in 三侠五义（评书）, 180 episodes edition, episode 3:

     给我来它二两酒。 [MSC, simp.]
     給我來它二兩酒。 [MSC, trad.]

     Gěi wǒ lái tā èr liǎng jiǔ. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2001, Chiung Yao, 36:26 from the start, in 情深深雨濛濛, episode 2 (Mainland editions):

     如果你唱得叫座，一个月赚它个一二百块钱是少不了的。 [MSC, simp.]
     如果你唱得叫座，一個月賺它個一二百塊錢是少不了的。 [MSC, trad.]

     Rúguǒ nǐ chàng de jiàozuò, yī ge yuè zhuàn tā ge yī èr bǎi kuài qián shì shǎo bù liǎo de. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. crooked; evil
6. a surname

Usage notes

• In traditional Chinese, there is generally a distinction between 它 and 牠; the former refers exclusively to inanimate objects, while the latter refers exclusively to animals.
• In simplified Chinese, only 它 is used for both inanimate objects and animals.

See also

Standard Mandarin Chinese personal pronouns
Person		Singular	Plural
1st	—	我 (wǒ)	我們／我们 (wǒmen)
	inclusive		咱們／咱们 (zánmen)
2nd	male/indefinite	你 (nǐ)	你們／你们 (nǐmen)
	female	妳／你 (nǐ)	妳們／你们 (nǐmen)
	deity	祢 (nǐ)	祢們／祢们 (nǐmen)
	polite	您 (nín)	你們／你们 (nǐmen) 您們／您们 (nínmen)
3rd	male/indefinite	他 (tā)	他們／他们 (tāmen)
	female	她 (tā)	她們／她们 (tāmen)
	deity	祂 (tā)	祂們／祂们 (tāmen)
	animal	牠／它 (tā)	牠們／它们 (tāmen)
	inanimate	它 (tā)	它們／它们 (tāmen)

• (Classical Chinese, gender and number neutral - he, she, it, they) 其 (qí)
• (Hokkien, Teochew, Wu, gender neutral - he, she, it) 伊
• (Cantonese, Hakka, Gan, gender neutral - he, she, it) 佢, 渠

Compounds

• 之死靡它
• 其它 (qítā)
• 奇請它比 / 奇请它比
• 奢摩它
• 委它 (wēiyí)
• 它人
• 它們 / 它们
• 它名
• 它山之石，可以為錯 / 它山之石，可以为错
• 它岐
• 它年
• 它心
• 它所
• 它故
• 它日
• 它時 / 它时
• 它法
• 它界
• 它腸 / 它肠
• 它門 / 它门
• 拉它
• 橐它
• 無它 / 无它
• 磨它子
• 自它
• 靡它
• 駘它 / 骀它

 

Pronunciation 2

simp. and trad.		它

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tuō (tuo¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄨㄛ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tuō
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄨㄛ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tuo
    • Wade–Giles: tʻo¹
    • Yale: twō
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tuo
    • Palladius: то (to)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰu̯ɔ⁵⁵/

Definitions

它

1. Used in 它它藉藉／它它借借.
2. Alternative form of 駝 / 驼 (tuó)

Pronunciation 3

simp. and trad.		它

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yí (yi²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧˊ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yí
    • Zhuyin: ㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yí
    • Wade–Giles: i²
    • Yale: yí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yi
    • Palladius: и (i)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /i³⁵/

Definitions

它

1. Only used in 它它.

Pronunciation 4

For pronunciation and definitions of 它 – see 蛇 (“snake; serpent; illegal immigrant; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 蛇).

Japanese

Kanji

它

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

• Go-on: た (ta)
• Kan-on: た (ta)
• Kun: へび (hebi, 它)

Vietnamese

Han character

它: Hán Nôm readings: dà, đà, tha

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.