Stroke order

省 (Kangxi radical 109,目+4, 9 strokes,cangjie input火竹月山 (FHBU),four-corner9060₂,composition⿱少目)

• 偗, 㗂, 㨘, 渻, 㮐, 㼳, 䚇, 箵, 㾪

• Kangxi Dictionary:page 802, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 23179
• Dae Jaweon: page 1218, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2473, character 1
• Unihan data for U+7701

• Unihan data for U+F96D

Historical forms of the character省
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled inHan)	Liushutong (compiled inMing)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Originally眚. Inoracle bone script, anphono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声,OC*sreŋʔ, *sleŋʔ): phonetic 生(OC*sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs) + 目(“eye”) – "to inspect". InShuowen Jiezi,眚 and省 became separate characters.生 corrupted over time into少.

verb senses

Related to㾪 (MC srjaengX, “thin; skinny”) (Wang, 1982).

省

1. toomit; toleave out
2. toreduce; tosimplify

   • 船：舟也。从舟，鉛省聲。[Classical Chinese,trad.]
     船：舟也。从舟，铅省声。[Classical Chinese,simp.]

     From:Shuowen Jiezi, circa 2^nd centuryCE

     Chuán: zhōu yě. Cóng zhōu, qiānshěng shēng.[Pinyin]

     船(chuán): boat. From舟(zhōu), and a reduced form of鉛 /铅 used as the phonetic component.

3. (colloquial, by extension) to have less strange, potentially genius but generally lousy ideas for the sake of others to save worry

   你還是省省吧。[MSC,trad.]
   你还是省省吧。[MSC,simp.]

   Nǐ háishìshěngshěng ba.[Pinyin]

   You'd better give it up.

4. tosave; toeconomize

   省電／省电  ― shěngdiàn  ―  toconserve electricity

   省錢／省钱  ― shěngqián  ―  tosave money

5. (literary)palace

   • 禁中者，門戶有禁，非侍禦者不得入，故曰禁中。孝元皇后父大司馬陽平侯名禁，當時避之，故曰省中。[Classical Chinese,trad.]
     禁中者，门户有禁，非侍御者不得入，故曰禁中。孝元皇后父大司马阳平侯名禁，当时避之，故曰省中。[Classical Chinese,simp.]

     From:2^nd century,Cai Yong,《獨斷》

     Jìnzhōng zhě, ménhù yǒu jìn, fēi shìyù zhě bùdé rù, gù yuē jìnzhōng. Xiàoyuán Huánghòu fù dàsīmǎ Yángpíng Hóu míng Jìn, dāngshí bì zhī, gù yuēshěngzhōng.[Pinyin]

     As for the Restricted Central Area [of the Imperial Palace] (禁中 jìnzhōng): those who were not [imperial] servants might not enter the restricted gateways, hence it was called the Restricted Central Area [of the Imperial Palace] (禁中 jìnzhōng).Empress Xiaoyuan's father - the Grand Marshal and Marquis of Yinping - was named Jìn (禁), so people at that time avoided that and saidPalace’s Central Area.

   • 中官統領禁省，漢家故事。[Written Vernacular Chinese,trad.]
     中官统领禁省，汉家故事。[Written Vernacular Chinese,simp.]

     From:Romance of the Three Kingdoms, circa 14^th centuryCE

     Zhōngguān tǒnglǐng jìnshěng, Hànjiā gùshì.[Pinyin]

     That eunuchs manage the restrictedpalaces is a Han dynasty's old practice.

6. (historical, by extension)department (of a government)

   中書省／中书省  ― Zhōngshūshěng  ― the Central Secretariat

   • 尚書、門下、中書、秘書、殿中、內侍為六省。[Literary Chinese,trad.]
     尚书、门下、中书、秘书、殿中、内侍为六省。[Literary Chinese,simp.]

     From: TheOld Book of Tang, 945CE

     Shàngshū, Ménxià, Zhōngshū, Mìshū, Diànzhōng, Nèishì wéi liùshěng.[Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   1. ministry of theJapanese orNorth Koreangovernment

      外務省／外务省  ― wàiwùshěng  ―  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

      社會安全省／社会安全省  ― shèhuì ānquánshěng  ― Ministry of Social Security

7. province;(originally)short for行省 (xíngshěng)(Classifier:個／个mc)

   福建省  ― FújiànShěng  ― Fujian Province

8. provincialcapital
   1. (chiefly Guangdong, especially)Guangzhou

      省港澳  ― Shěng-Gǎng-Ào  ― Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau

9. asurname

• Historically used as a suffix for many foreign major administrative divisions (states of the US, etc.), such usage is now generally obsolete (outside of fossilized instances like麻省 (“Massachusetts”)) and replaced with州 (zhōu, “state”).

Others:

• → Bouyei:senj
• → Lü:ᦵᦌᦲᧃ(soen)
• → Zhuang:sengj

• 縣／县 (xiàn, “Japanese prefecture”)
• 州 (zhōu, “state”)

(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)

省

1. toexamine; toinspect
2. togreet; tovisit
3. tounderstand; tocomprehend

省

1. (Hokkien)alternative form of啥(siáⁿ,“what”)
   • 1914,《最新父子狀元歌下本》‎^[1],厦門 [Amoy]:會文堂:

     我今出府等接伊　太院先生到府邊　就問大人得省病　李氏夫人就應伊[Hokkien,trad.]
     我今出府等接伊　太院先生到府边　就问大人得省病　李氏夫人就应伊[Hokkien,simp.]

     góa taⁿ chhut-hú tán-chih i, thài-īⁿ sian-siⁿ kàu hú piⁿ, chiū mn̄g tōa-lâng titsiáⁿ pīⁿ, Lí--sī hu-jîn chiū ìn i[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1987, “內山姑娘要出嫁”,謝麗燕 (lyrics)‎^[2]performed by葉啟田 [Yeh Chi-tien]:

     並無來對阮講出到底省原因[Taiwanese Hokkien,trad.]
     并无来对阮讲出到底省原因[Taiwanese Hokkien,simp.]

     pēng bô lâi tùi góa kóng-chhut tàu-tésiáⁿ goân-in[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• (Cantonese)
  • “省”, in漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[3],香港中文大學 (theChinese University of Hong Kong),2014–
• (Hakka)
  • “Entry #14317”, in臺灣客語辭典 [Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka] (overall work in Chinese and Hakka),Ministry of Education, R.O.C.,2022.
  • “Entry #14426”, in臺灣客語辭典 [Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka] (overall work in Chinese and Hakka),Ministry of Education, R.O.C.,2022.
  • “Entry #16275”, in臺灣客語辭典 [Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka] (overall work in Chinese and Hakka),Ministry of Education, R.O.C.,2022.
• (Hokkien)
  • William Campbell (1913),A dictionary of the Amoy vernacular spoken throughout the prefectures of Chin-Chiu, Chiang-Chiu and Formosa (in Hokkien), 8th edition, Tainan: Taiwan Church Press, published1961,→OCLC,page18561.
  • 小川尚義 (OGAWA Naoyoshi), editor (1931–1932), “省”, in臺日大辭典 [Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary]‎^[4] (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese),Taihoku:Government-General of Taiwan,→OCLC
  • 小川尚義 (OGAWA Naoyoshi), editor (1931–1932), “省”, in臺日大辭典 [Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary]‎^[5] (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese),Taihoku:Government-General of Taiwan,→OCLC
  • “省”, in教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien),Ministry of Education, R.O.C.,2025.
• (Puxian Min)
  • 莆田市荔城区档案馆[Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “省”, in莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page209.
• 李如龙[Li, Ru-long];刘福铸[Liu, Fu-zhu];吴华英[Wu, Hua-ying];黄国城[Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019), “省（反～）”, in莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min),Xiamen University Press,→ISBN, page271.

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. governmentministry
2. Chineseprovince

• Go-on:しょう(shō,Jōyō)^{←しやう(syau,historical)}
• Kan-on:せい(sei,Jōyō)
• Kun:かえりみる(kaerimiru,省みる,Jōyō)^{←かへりみる(kaferimiru,省みる,historical)}、はぶく(habuku,省く,Jōyō)、みる(miru,省る)、つかさ(tsukasa,省)
• Nanori:さとし(satoshi)

FromMiddle Chinese省 (MC srjaengX).

• (Tokyo)しょー[shóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ɕo̞ː]

JapaneseWikipedia has an article on:

省

Wikipedia^ja

JapaneseWikipedia has an article on:

省 (行政区画)

Wikipedia^ja

省(しょう)• (shō) ^{←しやう(syau)?}

1. ministry,governmentdepartment,office

   法務省(ほうむしょう)

   hōmu shō

   Ministry of Justice

2. Chineseprovince

   広東省(カントンしょう)

   kanton shō

   GuangdongProvince

省(しょう)• (shō-) ^{←しやう(syau-)?}

1. -saving,conservation

   省(しょう)エネルギー ―shōenerugī ―energy conservation, energy efficiency

   省(しょう)時(じ)間(かん) ―shōjikan ―time conservation, time efficiency

省(しょう)• (-shō) ^{←しやう(-syau)?}

1. ministry

FromMiddle Chinese省 (MC sjengX).

• (SK Standard/Seoul)IPA^(key):[sʰʌ̹ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul:[성]

KoreanWikisource has texts containing thehanja:

省

省 (eumhun살필성(salpil seong))

1. hanja form^? of성(“toexamine; toinspect”)
2. hanja form^? of성(“Chineseprovince”)
3. hanja form^? of성(“ministry;department”)

FromMiddle Chinese省 (MC srjaengX).

• (SK Standard/Seoul)IPA^(key):[sʰɛŋ] ~ [sʰe̞ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul:[생/셍]

省 (eumhun덜생(deol saeng))

1. hanja form^? of생(“toreduce; toomit”)
2. hanja form^? of생(“saving;conservation”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary,전자사전／電子字典.[6]

省:Hán Nôm readings:tỉnh,xển,xỉnh,xĩnh,tểnh,tễnh

1. chữ Hán form oftỉnh(“province;prefecture”)

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