硅

硅 U+7845, 硅 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7845 ← 硄 [U+7844] CJK Unified Ideographs 硆 → [U+7846]

Translingual

Han character

硅 (Kangxi radical 112, 石+6, 11 strokes, cangjie input 一口土土 (MRGG), four-corner 1461₄, composition ⿰石圭)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 829, character 40
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24151
• Dae Jaweon: page 1245, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2427, character 7
• Unihan data for U+7845

Further reading

• 硅 on Wikidata.Wikidata

Chinese

simp. and trad.		硅

Glyph origin 1

Chemical element
Si
Previous: 鋁／铝 (lǚ) (Al)
Next: 磷 (lín) (P)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声) : semantic 石 (“stone”) + phonetic 圭 (guī).

Etymology

An orthographic borrowing from Japanese 硅(けい)素(そ) (keiso) (Wu, 2010); pronunciation from its phonetic part 圭 (guī) (ibid.), in turn from Dutch keiaarde (“silicon”). The usage of 矽 (xī) is dated in Mainland China as it is homophonous to 硒 (xī) "selenium" and 錫／锡 (xī) "tin". In Taiwan, these three words are not homophonous.

The 1932 ROC Ministry of Education's Principles of Chemical Nomenclature says:

硅由日名珪素孳演而成，因爲固體，故改王旁爲石。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

---

硅由日名珪素孳演而成，因为固体，故改王旁为石。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: 1932, 國立編譯館, 化學命名原則

Guī yóu rì míng guīsù zī yǎn ér chéng, yīn wéi gùtǐ, gù gǎi wáng páng wéi shí. [Pinyin]

硅 is derived and developed from the Japanese name 珪素 (けいそ, keiso). Considering Si is a solid substance, we hence convert the component 王 into 石.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): guī (gui¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄨㄟ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gwai¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): kui
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹kue

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: guī
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄨㄟ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: guei
    • Wade–Giles: kuei¹
    • Yale: gwēi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: guei
    • Palladius: гуй (guj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ku̯eɪ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gwai¹
    • Yale: gwāi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gwai¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: guei¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʷɐi̯⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kui
    • Tâi-lô: kui
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kuy
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /kui⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kui³³/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹kue
    • MiniDict: kue^平
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹kue
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /kue⁵³/

Definitions

硅

2. (Mainland China, chemistry) silicon

   Synonym: 矽 (xī) (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau)

Compounds

• 硅片
• 硅石 (guīshí)
• 硅肺 (guīfèi)
• 硅膠／硅胶 (guījiāo)
• 硅谷 (Guīgǔ)
• 硅酸 (guīsuān)
• 硅鋼／硅钢 (guīgāng)

 

Glyph origin 2

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

	Old Chinese
街	*kreː, *kreː
鞋	*ɡreː, *ɡreː, *ɡreː
娾	*ŋreː, *ŋreːʔ
佳	*kreː
鮭	*ɡreː, *kʷeː, *kʰʷeː
涯	*ŋreː, *ŋre
崖	*ŋreː, *ŋre
啀	*ŋreː
厓	*ŋreː
捱	*ŋreː
睚	*ŋreːs
娃	*qreː
洼	*qreː, *qʷraː, *kʷeː
哇	*qreː, *qʷraː
胿	*ɡeː, *kʷeː
溎	*qeːns
觟	*ɡʷraːʔ
黊	*ɡʷraːʔ, *ɡʷreːs, *ɡʷeː
蘳	*ɡʷraːʔ, *qʰʷe
蛙	*qʷraː, *qʷreː
窪	*qʷraː
卦	*kʷreːs
挂	*kʷreːs
掛	*kʷreːs
詿	*kʷreːs, *ɡʷreːs
罣	*kʷreːs, *ɡʷreːs, *kʷeːs
絓	*kʰʷreː, *ɡʷreːs
鼃	*ɢʷreː, *qʷreː
圭	*kʷeː
珪	*kʷeː
邽	*kʷeː
閨	*kʷeː
袿	*kʷeː
窐	*kʷeː, *ɡʷeː
茥	*kʷeː, *kʰʷeː
桂	*kʷeːs
筀	*kʷeːs
奎	*kʰʷeː
刲	*kʰʷeː
蝰	*kʰʷeː
楏	*kʰʷeː
睳	*qʰʷeː
畦	*ɡʷeː
眭	*ɡʷeː, *sqʰʷe, *qʰʷe, *qʰʷi
烓	*qʷeː, *kʰʷeːŋʔ
跬	*kʰʷeʔ
恚	*qʷes
硅	*qʰʷreɡ

Definitions

For pronunciation and definitions of 硅 – see 砉 (“sound of a thing flying quickly by; whoosh; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 砉).

References

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), C08724
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), B02950-000

Japanese

Kanji

硅

(Hyōgai kanji)

Readings

As variant kanji of 珪: (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

• Go-on: かい (kai)^{←くわい (kwai, historical)}
• Kan-on: けい (kei)^{←けい (kei, historical)←くゑい (kwei, ancient)}

As variant kanji of 砉: (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

• Go-on: きゃく (kyaku)^{←きやく (kyaku, historical)←くゐやく (kwiyaku, ancient)}
• Kan-on: かく (kaku)^{←くわく (kwaku, historical)}

From native Japanese roots:

• Kun: やぶる (yaburu, 硅る)

Compounds

• 硅(けい)素(そ) (keiso, “silicon”)

Korean

Hanja

硅 (eum 규 (gyu))

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

Vietnamese

Han character

硅: Hán Nôm readings: khuê
硅: Nôm readings: cuội

1. pebble

References

• Nom Foundation