惜

惜 (Kangxi radical 61, 心+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 心廿日 (PTA), four-corner 9406₁, composition ⿰忄昔)

• 𥧶

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 391, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10814
• Dae Jaweon: page 725, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2313, character 9
• Unihan data for U+60DC

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *sjaːɡ): semantic 忄 (“heart”) + phonetic 昔 (OC *sjaːɡ) – a feeling (of the heart).

Note that 昔 has meaning of “past, ending”, hence connotations of “feelings for the past, feeling about an ending – regret, rue”.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

惜

1. to have pity on; to regret; to feel sorry for

   痛惜  ―  tòngxī  ―  to deeply regret

   • 子謂顏淵曰：「惜乎！吾見其進也，吾未見其止也！」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子谓颜渊曰：「惜乎！吾见其进也，吾未见其止也！」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE

     Zǐ wèi Yán Yuān yuē: “Xī hū! Wú jiàn qí jìn yě, wú wèi jiàn qí zhǐ yě!” [Pinyin]

     Speaking of Yan Yuan['s death], the Master said, "The pity of it! I saw him go on, but I never saw him stop!"

   • 子與我衣，我活也。我與子衣，子活也。我，國士也，為天下惜死。子，不肖人也，不足愛也。子與我子之衣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子与我衣，我活也。我与子衣，子活也。我，国士也，为天下惜死。子，不肖人也，不足爱也。子与我子之衣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Lü Buwei, Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals, 239 BCE

     Zǐ yǔ wǒ yī, wǒ huó yě. Wǒ yǔ zǐ yī, zǐ huó yě. Wǒ, guóshì yě, wèi tiānxià xī sǐ. Zǐ, bùxiào rén yě, bùzú ài yě. Zǐ yǔ wǒ zǐ zhī yī. [Pinyin]

     If you give me your clothes, I will live. If I give you my clothes, you will live. I am a distinguished man of state, and it would be a pity if I died for the sake of the empire. As for you, you are an unworthy person and are not worth begrudging. You should give me your clothes.

2. to cherish; to adore; to value greatly; to love dearly

   珍惜  ―  zhēnxī  ―  to treasure

   我阿哥好錫佢個女㗎。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我阿哥好锡佢个女㗎。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ aa³ go¹ hou² sek³ keoi⁵ go³ neoi^5-2 gaa³. [Jyutping]

   My elder brother loves his daughter dearly.

   錫住嚟用／锡住嚟用 [Cantonese]  ―  sek³ zyu⁶ lai⁴ jung⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  to use with care

   • (Can we date this quote?), “錫嗮你”, performed by 許冠傑 [Samuel Hui]:

     錫嗮你　你乖乖地我實行錫嗮你 [Cantonese, trad.]
     锡嗮你　你乖乖地我实行锡嗮你 [Cantonese, simp.]

     sek³ saai³ nei⁵, nei⁵ gwaai¹ gwaai¹ dei^6-2 ngo⁵ sat⁶ hang⁴ sek³ saai³ nei⁵ [Jyutping]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. to begrudge; to grudge; to spare; to stint
4. (Cantonese) to kiss

   媽媽錫咗BB一啖。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   妈妈锡咗BB一啖。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   maa^1-4 maa¹ sek³ zo² bi⁴ bi¹ jat¹ daam⁶. [Jyutping]

   The mother gave the baby a kiss.

   • 1986, “連鎖反應 [liánsuǒ fǎnyìng]”, performed by 林姍姍:

     門牙和紅唇做美夢　每次你輕輕的親我（錫啖先囉　唔） [Cantonese, trad.]
     门牙和红唇做美梦　每次你轻轻的亲我（锡啖先啰　唔） [Cantonese, simp.]

     mun⁴ ngaa⁴ wo⁴ hung⁴ seon⁴ zou⁶ mei⁵ mung⁶, mui⁵ ci³ nei⁵ hing¹ hing¹ dik¹ can¹ ngo⁵ (sek³ daam⁶ sin¹ lo¹, m⁴) [Jyutping]

     Incisors and ruddy lips are dreaming good dreams every time you kiss me lightly (give me a kiss, mmm...)

5. (Mainland China Hokkien) to take into consideration; to take into account; to give consideration to

• (kiss): 親嘴／亲嘴 (qīnzuǐ), 接吻 (jiēwěn); (Hokkien) 相唚, 唚喙
• (to take into consideration):

• → Vietnamese: tiếc (“to regret”)

• “惜”, 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–
• “惜”, 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.
• 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), “惜”, 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, page 271.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. to feel regret, to find something a pity
2. to cherish

• Go-on: しゃく (shaku)^{←しやく (syaku, historical)}
• Kan-on: せき (seki, Jōyō)^{←せき (seki, historical)}
• Kun: おしい (oshii, 惜しい, Jōyō)^{←をしい (wosii, 惜しい, historical)}、おしむ (oshimu, 惜しむ, Jōyō)^{←をしむ (wosimu, 惜しむ, historical)}、あたらし (atarashi, 惜し)、あたらしい (atarashii, 惜しい)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰʌ̹k̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [석]

惜 • (seok) (hangeul 석, revised seok, McCune–Reischauer sŏk, Yale sek)

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

惜: Hán Nôm readings: tiếc, tích

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