竊

See also: 窃

竊 U+7ACA, 竊 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7ACA ← 竉 [U+7AC9] CJK Unified Ideographs 立 → [U+7ACB]

Translingual

Japanese	窃
Simplified	窃
Traditional	竊

Han character

竊 (Kangxi radical 116, 穴+17, 22 strokes, cangjie input 十金竹木月 (JCHDB), four-corner 3092₇, composition ⿱穴⿰釆⿳⺊𠔿禸)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 870, character 8
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 25713
• Dae Jaweon: page 1299, character 10
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2747, character 7
• Unihan data for U+7ACA

Chinese

trad.		竊
simp.		窃
alternative forms		𫞺 𫁝 historical variant 𥨱 historical variant 𥨵 corrupted form 𢿝 ancient form 𫞺 𫁝 historical variant 𥨱 historical variant 𥨵 corrupted form 𢿝 ancient form 𥩓

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 竊
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

The current form likely derives from a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *sʰleːd) : semantic 宀 + phonetic 䊪 (OC *m·raːds, *m·rads, *m·raːd), as attested in the Western Han period. 宀 is later replaced with 穴, and 萬 corrupts into 廿 and 禼. Based on the corrupted form, Shuowen erroneously interprets this character as a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *sʰleːd) : semantic 穴 (“cave; hole”) + semantic 米 (“rice”) + phonetic 廿 (OC *zid) + phonetic 禼 (OC *sed). In the current form, 廿 is omitted and 米 is replaced with 釆.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): qiè (qie⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧㄝˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sit³
• Eastern Min (BUC): chiék
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): chhiat / chhiap

  (Teochew, Peng'im): ciab⁴ / ciag⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: qiè
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧㄝˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ciè
    • Wade–Giles: chʻieh⁴
    • Yale: chyè
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chieh
    • Palladius: це (ce)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi̯ɛ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: sit³
    • Yale: sit
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sit⁸
    • Guangdong Romanization: xid³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siːt̚³/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: chiék
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰiɛʔ²⁴/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhiat / chhiap
    • Tâi-lô: tshiat / tshiap
    • Phofsit Daibuun: chiad, chiab
    • IPA (Xiamen): /t͡sʰiɛt̚³²/, /t͡sʰiap̚³²/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /t͡sʰiɛt̚⁵/, /t͡sʰiap̚⁵/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡sʰiɛt̚³²/, /t͡sʰiap̚³²/
    • IPA (Taipei): /t͡sʰiɛt̚³²/, /t͡sʰiap̚³²/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /t͡sʰiɛt̚³²/, /t͡sʰiap̚³²/

Note:

• chhiat - literary;
• chhiap - vernacular (俗).

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: ciab⁴ / ciag⁴
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: tshiap / tshiak
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰiap̚²/, /t͡sʰiak̚²/

Note:

• ciab4 - Chaozhou;
• ciag4 - Shantou.

---

• Middle Chinese: tshet

Rime
Character	竊
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	清 (14)
Final (韻)	屑 (87)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	千結切
Baxter	tshet
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡sʰet̚/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡sʰet̚/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡sʰɛt̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/t͡sʰɛt̚/
Li Rong	/t͡sʰet̚/
Wang Li	/t͡sʰiet̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/t͡sʰiet̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	qie
Expected Cantonese Reflex	cit3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[tsʰ]ˤet/

  (Zhengzhang): /*sʰleːd/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	竊
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	qiè
Middle Chinese	‹ tshet ›
Old Chinese	/*[tsʰ]ˁet/
English	steal
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	竊
Reading #	1/1
No.	10472
Phonetic component	竊
Rime group	月
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime
Old Chinese	/*sʰleːd/

Definitions

竊

1. to steal
2. thief
3. to acquire illegitimately; to usurp
4. secretly; stealthily
5. (literary, humble) personally

   竊以為……／窃以为……  ―  qiè yǐwèi......  ―  I personally think that...

   • 臣竊計，君宮中積珍寶，狗馬實外廄，美人充下陳。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     臣窃计，君宫中积珍宝，狗马实外厩，美人充下陈。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhanguo Ce, circa 5^th – 3^rd centuries BCE

     Chén qiè jì, jūn gōng zhōng jī zhēn bǎo, gǒu mǎ shí wài jiù, měirén chōng xiàzhèn. [Pinyin]

     I took the liberty to make an assessment and saw that the palace of our lord was piled full of precious things and treasures, with dogs and horses filling the outside stable and beautiful women filling the front hall.

Synonyms

• (to steal):

edit

• 偷 (tōu)
• 偷盜 / 偷盗 (tōudào)
• 偷竊 / 偷窃 (tōuqiè)
• 撻 / 挞 (Cantonese, slang)
• 盜 / 盗 (dào)
• 盜取 / 盗取 (dàoqǔ)
• 盜竊 / 盗窃 (dàoqiè)
• 竊取 / 窃取 (qièqǔ)

 

Dialectal synonyms of 偷 (“to steal”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		偷, 盜, 竊
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		偷, 偷竊, 偷盜, 盜竊, 竊取
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	偷
	Taiwan	偷
	Singapore	偷
Cantonese	Guangzhou	偷, 鼠
	Hong Kong	偷, 撻, M, jam
	Taishan	偷
Hakka	Meixian	偷
	Huizhou (Huicheng; Bendihua)	撻
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	偷
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	偷
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	偷
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	偷
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	偷提
Southern Min	Xiamen	偷提
	Quanzhou	偷提
	Zhangzhou	偷提
	Penang (Hokkien)	偷提
	Manila (Hokkien)	偷, 偷提
	Shantou	偷

Compounds

• 仰屋竊歎 / 仰屋窃叹
• 偷世竊名 / 偷世窃名
• 偷目竊望 / 偷目窃望 (tōumùqièwàng)
• 偷竊 / 偷窃 (tōuqiè)
• 偷香竊玉 / 偷香窃玉 (tōuxiāngqièyù)
• 僭竊 / 僭窃
• 剽竊 / 剽窃 (piāoqiè)
• 勦竊 / 剿窃
• 叨竊 / 叨窃
• 失竊 / 失窃 (shīqiè)
• 小竊 / 小窃
• 忝竊 / 忝窃
• 慣竊 / 惯窃 (guànqiè)
• 扒竊 / 扒窃 (páqiè)
• 暗自竊喜 / 暗自窃喜
• 狗偷鼠竊 / 狗偷鼠窃
• 狗盜鼠竊 / 狗盗鼠窃
• 狼貪鼠竊 / 狼贪鼠窃
• 疑人竊鈇 / 疑人窃𫓧
• 盜竊 / 盗窃 (dàoqiè)
• 竊位 / 窃位
• 竊位素餐 / 窃位素餐
• 竊匪 / 窃匪
• 竊占
• 竊占罪
• 竊取 / 窃取 (qièqǔ)
• 竊喜 / 窃喜 (qièxǐ)
• 竊國 / 窃国 (qièguó)
• 竊奪 / 窃夺
• 竊嫌 / 窃嫌
• 竊密 / 窃密 (qièmì)
• 竊幸乘寵 / 窃幸乘宠
• 竊弄 / 窃弄
• 竊弄威權 / 窃弄威权
• 竊據 / 窃据 (qièjù)
• 竊案 / 窃案 (qiè'àn)
• 竊犯 / 窃犯
• 竊玉 / 窃玉
• 竊玉偷香 / 窃玉偷香
• 竊用 / 窃用
• 竊疾 / 窃疾
• 竊盜 / 窃盗 (qièdào, “burglar”)
• 竊盜險 / 窃盗险
• 竊視 / 窃视 (qièshì)
• 竊窺 / 窃窥
• 竊竊 / 窃窃 (qièqiè)
• 竊竊私語 / 窃窃私语 (qièqièsīyǔ)
• 竊竊私議 / 窃窃私议
• 竊竊細語 / 窃窃细语
• 竊笑 / 窃笑 (qièxiào)
• 竊簪之臣 / 窃簪之臣
• 竊聽 / 窃听 (qiètīng)
• 竊聽器 / 窃听器 (qiètīngqì)
• 竊號 / 窃号
• 竊賊 / 窃贼 (qièzéi)
• 竊鉤竊國 / 窃钩窃国
• 竊鐘掩耳 / 窃钟掩耳
• 篡竊 / 篡窃
• 草竊 / 草窃
• 行竊 / 行窃 (xíngqiè)
• 詭銜竊轡 / 诡衔窃辔
• 貪權竊柄 / 贪权窃柄
• 鼠竊 / 鼠窃
• 鼠竊狗偷 / 鼠窃狗偷
• 鼠竊狗盜 / 鼠窃狗盗

 

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): chhia̍p

---

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhia̍p
    • Tâi-lô: tshia̍p
    • Phofsit Daibuun: chiap
    • IPA (Xiamen): /t͡sʰiap̚⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡sʰiap̚¹²¹/

Definitions

竊

1. (Xiamen and Zhangzhou Hokkien) seventy (used with numbers from 71 to 79)

Synonyms

• 七十 (qīshí)

Compounds

• 竊一 / 窃一
• 竊七 / 窃七
• 竊三 / 窃三
• 竊九 / 窃九
• 竊二 / 窃二
• 竊五 / 窃五
• 竊八 / 窃八
• 竊六 / 窃六
• 竊四 / 窃四

 

References

• “竊”, 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

Shinjitai	窃
Kyūjitai	竊

Kanji

竊

(Hyōgai kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 窃)

1. to steal (“nusumu” reading)
2. secret; hushed, quietly (“hisoka” reading)

Readings

• Go-on: せち (sechi)
• Kan-on: せつ (setsu)
• Kun: ぬすむ (nusumu, 竊む)、ひそか (hisoka, 竊か)

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 竊 (MC tshet).

Historical readings

• Recorded as Middle Korean 쳐ᇙ〮 (Yale: chyélq) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.
• Recorded as Middle Korean 졀〮 (cyél) (Yale: cyél) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʌ̹ɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [절]

Hanja

Wikisource

竊 (eumhun 훔칠 절 (humchil jeol))

1. hanja form^? of 절 (“to steal”)

Compounds

Compounds

• 표절 (剽竊, pyojeol)
• 절도 (竊盜, jeoldo)
• 절취 (竊取, jeolchwi)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

Han character

竊: Hán Nôm readings: thiết

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