漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food
細: dainty, get thin
Also: taper, slender, narrow, detailed, precise
糸 carries the meaning · 田 gives the sound
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Four readings, and the words that use each
サイsai · on'yomi · in compounds
- 細胞さいぼうcell
- 細菌さいきんbacillus, bacterium, germ
- 細部さいぶdetails
- 毛細血管もうさいけっかんcapillary vessel, capillary
- 詳細なしょうさいなdetails, particulars
- 繊細なせんさいなfine, nice, delicate, subtle
ほそいhosoi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 細いほそいthin, slender, fine
- 心細いこころぼそいhelpless, forlorn, lonely
こまかkomaka · kun'yomi
- 細々したこまごましたsundry, miscellaneous
こまかいkomakai · kun'yomi
- 細かいこまかいsmall, fine, minute
Also read ほそる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)糸 (meaning) + 囟 (sound)
The right component is etymologically unrelated to 田 in which it was corrupted to after the Han dynasty.
Source: Wiktionary, 細 (rev. 92676063), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Everything is connected! This radical represents the invisible threads that tie us together—our relationships, the fine "silk" of our words, and the intricate weaving of our personal histories.”
Connections
The 田 sound family doesn't share one reading.
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSimplified 细 · traditional, as in Japanese · xì
Japan keeps the traditional form 細; mainland China simplifies it to 细.
- Simplified
- 细 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 細 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin xì most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.