素 (Kangxi radical 120,糸+4, 10 strokes,cangjie input手一女戈火 (QMVIF),four-corner5090₃,composition⿱龶糸)

• 責
• 青

• Kangxi Dictionary:page 918, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 27300
• Dae Jaweon: page 1348, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3368, character 3
• Unihan data for U+7D20

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

Pictogram (象形) – hands廾 braiding thread糸.

In modern form, top component looks like生 without the diagonal stroke – compare責,青.

Austroasiatic in origin; compareKhmerស(sɑɑ,“white; to show something clearly”) (Schuessler, 2007). Cognate with索 (OC*sraːɡ, *sreːɡ, “to search”).

素

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese)whitesilk
2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) silk orpaper used for writing
3. white

   素面  ― sùmiàn  ―  unadorned face; face without makeup

   素服  ― sùfú  ―  white mourning clothes

4. plain

   素淨／素净  ― sùjìng  ―  plain and neat

5. vegetarian (food)

   素菜  ― sùcài  ―  vegetable dish; vegetarian dish

   吃素  ― chīsù  ―  to live on a vegetarian diet; to be a vegetarian

   素食  ― sùshí  ―  vegetarian foods; to maintain a vegetarian diet

6. original;unprocessed

   素材  ― sùcái  ―  source material

   素質／素质  ― sùzhì  ―  nature

7. usually;always;all along

   平素  ― píngsù  ―  normally; usually

   素不往來／素不往来  ― sù bù wǎnglái  ―  have never had contact with each other

   武漢素稱「九省通衢」。[MSC,trad.]
   武汉素称「九省通衢」。[MSC,simp.]

   Wǔhànsù chēng “jiǔshěng tōngqú”.[Pinyin]

   Wuhan has always been called "the thoroughfare of the nine provinces".

8. element

   元素  ― yuánsù  ―  element

   維生素／维生素  ― wéishēngsù  ―  vitamin

   色素  ― sèsù  ―  pigment

9. (mathematics)prime

   素數／素数  ― sùshù  ―  prime number

   互素  ― hùsù  ―  coprime; relatively prime

• “素”, in漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1],香港中文大學 (theChinese University of Hong Kong),2014–

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. basic
2. plain

• Go-on:す(su,Jōyō)
• Kan-on:そ(so,Jōyō)
• Kun:きじ(kiji,素)、しろ(shiro,素)、しろい(shiroi,素い)、もと(moto,素)

• 生長素(せいちょうそ)(seichōso,“auxin”)
• 素(そ)馨(けい)(sokei,“Spanish jasmine”)

• 素(す)通(どお)り(sudōri)
• 素(す)泊(どま)り(sudomari),素(す)泊(ど)まり(sudomari)
• 素(す)敵(てき)(suteki)

Derived fromMiddle Chinese素 (MC suH).

• (Tokyo)す[súꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• (Tokyo)す[sù] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [sɨ]

素(す)• (su) ^←す(su)?

1. unadorned state

Compare元(もと)(moto,“origin”).

• (Tokyo)もと[mòtóꜜ] (Odaka – [2])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [mo̞to̞]

素(もと)• (moto) ^{←もと(moto)?}

1. (cooking)essence

   ご飯(はん)の素(もと)

   gohan nomoto

   riceflavoring / seasoning

FromMiddle Chinese.

• (Tokyo)そ[sóꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [so̞]

素(そ)• (so) -na (adnominal素(そ)な(sona),adverbial素(そ)に(soni))

1. plain
2. (mathematics)prime(having no factors but 1 and itself)

   互(たが)いに素(そ)

   tagai niso

   mutually prime

• “^△素”, in漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[2] (in Japanese),The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation,2015–2025

FromMiddle Chinese素 (MC suH). Recorded asMiddle Korean소(swo) (Yale:swo) inHunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

• (element; basis):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul)IPA^(key):[sʰo̞]
  • Phonetic hangul:[소]
• (plain; white):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul)IPA^(key):[sʰo̞(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul:[소(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

KoreanWikisource has texts containing thehanja:

素

素 (eumhun흴소(huil so))
素 (eumhun본디소(bondi so))

1. hanja form^? of소(“plain;white”)
2. hanja form^? of소(“element;basis”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary,전자사전／電子字典.[3]

素:Nôm readings:tố^[1],tó^[2]

1. (dated)chữ Hán form oftố(“clean,white”)
2. chữ Hán form oftố(“element,basis”)

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