階

See also: 阶

階	U+968E, 階 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-968E

← 隍
[U+968D]

CJK Unified Ideographs

随 →
[U+968F]

Translingual

Han character

階 (Kangxi radical 170, 阜+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 弓中心心日 (NLPPA), four-corner 7126₁, composition ⿰阝皆)

Derived characters

𣾂

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 1357, character 9
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41755
Dae Jaweon: page 1861, character 9
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4143, character 4
Unihan data for U+968E

Chinese

trad.		階
simp.		阶
alternative forms		堦／阶瑎

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 階
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
皆	*kriːl
偕	*kriːl
階	*kriːl
喈	*kriːl
稭	kriːl, kriːd
堦	*kriːl
楷	kriːl, kʰriːlʔ
鶛	*kriːl
湝	kriːl, ɡriːl
蝔	kriːl, ɡriːl
鍇	kriːl, kʰriːlʔ
揩	*kʰriːl
諧	*ɡriːl
瑎	*ɡriːl
龤	*ɡriːl

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kriːl) : semantic 阝 + phonetic 皆 (OC *kriːl).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): jiē (jie¹)

(Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄝ
Cantonese (Jyutping): gaai¹
Eastern Min (BUC): gā̤ / găi
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): kai

(Teochew, Peng'im): gai¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: jiē
  - Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄝ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: jie
  - Wade–Giles: chieh¹
  - Yale: jyē
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jie
  - Palladius: цзе (cze)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: gaai¹
  - Yale: gāai
  - Cantonese Pinyin: gaai¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: gai¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaːi̯⁵⁵/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: gā̤ / găi
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɛ³³/, /kai⁵⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kai
  - Tâi-lô: kai
  - Phofsit Daibuun: kay
  - IPA (Xiamen): /kai⁴⁴/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /kai³³/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /kai⁴⁴/
  - IPA (Taipei): /kai⁴⁴/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /kai⁴⁴/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: gai¹
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kai
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kai³³/

Middle Chinese: keaj

Rime
Character	階
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	皆 (33)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	古諧切
Baxter	keaj
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kˠɛi/
Pan Wuyun	/kᵚæi/
Shao Rongfen	/kɐi/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kəɨj/
Li Rong	/kɛi/
Wang Li	/kɐi/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kăi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	jiē
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gaai¹

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*kˤrij/

(Zhengzhang): /*kriːl/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	階
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	jiē
Middle Chinese	‹ kɛj ›
Old Chinese	/*kˁrij/
English	steps, stairs
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	階
Reading #	1/1
No.	6417
Phonetic component	皆
Rime group	脂
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	皆
Old Chinese	/*kriːl/

Definitions

階

stair; step
階梯／阶梯 ― jiētī ― staircase
- 夫不違，乃違也。夫不違，亡之階也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  夫不违，乃违也。夫不违，亡之阶也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: Guoyu, circa 4^th century BCE
  Fú bùwéi, nǎi wéi yě. Fú bùwéi, wáng zhī jiē yě. [Pinyin]
  They never go against you, which is indeed their way of betraying you. Their unconditional compliance is the stepstone to you ruin.
(figurative) rank; degree; level; seniority; order of precedence
官階／官阶 ― guānjiē ― rank of an official

進階中文課／进阶中文课 ― jìnjiē zhōngwén kè ― advanced(-level) course in Chinese
(figurative) phase; stage (serially-ordered division of time, level of completion, etc.)
階段／阶段 ― jiēduàn ― stage
(music) scale
五聲音階／五声音阶 ― wǔshēngyīnjiē ― pentatonic scale
(mathematics) order; degree (quantity signifying various concepts in mathematics, chiefly integer-valued)
二階微分方程／二阶微分方程 ― èrjiē wēifēnfāngchéng ― second-order differential equation
1. (graph theory) the number of vertices in a graph
  - 顯然任何 n階圖是一個 n 部圖。 [MSC, trad.]
    显然任何 n阶图是一个 n 部图。 [MSC, simp.]
    From: 2012, Xiong Bin and Zheng Zhongyi, Graph Theory, page 18
    Xiǎnrán rènhé n jiē tú shì yīge n bù tú. [Pinyin]
    Evidently, every n-vertex graph is an n-partite graph.
a surname

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (階):

→ Japanese: 階(かい) (kai)

References

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

Japanese

Kanji

階

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

storey; story; floor

Readings

Go-on: け (ke)
Kan-on: かい (kai, Jōyō)
Kun: きざはし (kizahashi, 階)、はしご (hashigo, 階)、しな (shina, 階)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
階
かい Grade: 3
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 階 (MC keaj).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ka̠i]

Affix

階(かい) • (kai)

step; stair; storey
class; rank; level

Counter

階(かい) • (-kai)

floors, storeys (of a building)
（私(わたし)の）オフィスは五(ご)階(かい)にあります。
(Watashi no) ofisu wa go-kai ni arimasu.
(My) office is on the fifth floor.

Korean

Hanja

階 (eumhun 섬돌 계 (seomdol gye))

hanja form^? of 계 (“steps, stairs”)
hanja form^? of 계 (“rank, degree”)

Vietnamese

Han character

階: Hán Nôm readings: giai

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