體
- body;
- shape;
- form;
Etymology
It is a phono-semantic compound character:
骨 (“bone”) - giving the meaning;
豊 (“yedo rye”) providing the sound.
For a character not considered highly advanced, it has quite a large number of strokes.
Usage in Korean
Words that derived from 體
- 개성진리체(個性眞理體)–individual embodiment of truth
- 개체(個體)–individual; entity; individual organism
- 매개체(媒介體)–medium
- 삼위일체(三位一體)–trinity; the Trinity
- 실체(實體)–substance; entity; true nature; true state
- 실체기대(實體基臺)–foundation of substance
- 실체헌제(實體獻祭)–substantial offering
- 영인체(靈人體)–spirit self
- 영체(靈體)–spirit body
- 육체(肉體)–body; physical body
- 인체(人體)–human body
- 자체(自體)–self; being own
- 전체(全體)–whole
- 전체주의(全體主義)–totalitarianism
- 정체(正體)–identity; nature; clean handwriting
- 정체불명(正體不明)–being mysterious; being unidentified
- 주체(主體)–owner; key member; main actor; agent; subject
- 체(體)–style; font; appearance
- 체계(體系)–system
- 체급(體級)–weight class
- 체험(體驗)–experience
- 합성체(合性體)–united body
Additional notes
In Japanese, it is also used as a suffix for counting human corpses, statues (images), pagodas, etc. However, if translated simply as “che” (체) in Korean, it becomes an incorrect rendering, since Korean lacks such an expression. For a corpse, it should be translated as 구 (具), for a pagoda as 좌 (座), and for other cases it should be adjusted to an appropriate unit.
This usage often appears in Japanese subculture, and requires context-sensitive translation.
Alternative forms
Because it is such a frequently used character, in the Sinosphere people have long replaced it with 体. Originally, 体 was a variant form of 笨 (“rough, foolish”), but it seems to have been reinterpreted as “the root (本) of the human (人) body,” and thus substituted. Even today, 体 is the standard form in Simplified Chinese and Japanese Shinjitai. In Korea too, when writing by hand, people often use 体 instead of 體.
Other variant forms include 躰, 軆, 骵, all of which share the structure of (身/骨) + (豊/本).
- 月月廿田廿 (BBTWT)
- ⿰ 骨 豊