Character: 何
Modern (Beijing) reading: hé
Preclassic Old Chinese: ghāj
Classic Old Chinese: ghāj
Western Han Chinese: ɣāj
Eastern Han Chinese: ɣǟ
Early Postclassic Chinese: ɣā
Middle Postclassic Chinese: ɣā
Late Postclassic Chinese: ɣā
Middle Chinese: ɣâ
English meaning : (be) what?
Russian meaning[s]: 1) что; какой; где; куда; откуда; как, каким образом, почему; почему бы...; насколько же...; универсальное вопросительное слово, часто обозначает риторический вопрос или отрицание; 2) нести, см. 菏; 3) Хэ (фамилия)
Shuowen gloss: 儋也.一曰誰也.從人.可聲. [371]
Comments: Regular Sino-Viet. is hà. Cf. also Viet. ha` 'interrogative particle'. Initial *gh- is reconstructed on analogy with related interrogatives: 胡 *ghā (cf. Xiamen ɔ2, Chaozhou ou2), 盍 *ghāp (Xiamen ap8). The character is used also for OC *ghājʔ, MC ɣấ (FQ JY 下可), Mand. hè 'to carry, bear', usually written as 荷 q.v.
Radical: 9
Four-angle index: 2985
Karlgren code: 0001 f
Vietnamese reading: há
Dali Bai: xa3-
Bijiang Bai: -xã2
Shijing occurrences: 3.4, 17.2, 17.3, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 33.4, 35.4, 37.1, 37.2, 40.1_, 40.2_, 40.3_, 47.1_, 52.1, 53.1, 53.2, 53.3
