季
- season (esp. last of a cycle, e.g., winter as the last season);
- the end, final stage;
- youngest child, youngest sibling;
Etymology
Compound character (會意字):
禾 (화, grain, rice plant) – semantic component, symbolizing harvest/season.
子 (자, child, son) – semantic/phonetic component, originally meaning “child.”
The combination suggests “youngest” or “last,” originally referring to the youngest son in the family. By extension, it came to mean “end of a cycle”, “end of the year”, season.
Usage in Korean
季節 (계절) — season
四季 (사계) — the four seasons
季末 (계말) — end of a season, end of term
季子 (계자) — youngest son; also used as a respectful address in classical Chinese
孔子季孫 (공자계손) — youngest descendant of the Kong (Confucius) family
Words that derived from 季
Additional notes
In Korean (계): mainly used in 계절 (“season”) and classical names.
In Chinese (jì): means season; also appears in personal names, especially for youngest sons.
In Japanese (き, すえ): used in compounds for season (四季), or as a suffix in names.
Courtesy names (字) in ancient China often used 季 for the youngest son, such as 季札 (Ji Zha).
- 竹木弓木 (HDND)
- ⿱ 禾 子
