性

Stroke order

性 (Kangxi radical 61, 心+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 心竹手一 (PHQM), four-corner 9501₀, composition ⿰忄生)

• 𠶞

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 381, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10478
• Dae Jaweon: page 710, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2286, character 4
• Unihan data for U+6027

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sleŋs) : semantic 忄 (“heart”) + phonetic 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs) – nature, personal quality, hence of the heart.

Derived from 生 (OC *sʰleːŋ, *sreŋs, “to live; to be born; innate”).

性

1. nature; character; personality

   • 天命之謂性。率性之謂道。修道之謂教。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     天命之谓性。率性之谓道。修道之谓教。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Tiānmìng zhī wèi xìng. Shuàixìng zhī wèi dào. Xiūdào zhī wèi jiào. [Pinyin]

     What Heaven has ordained is called The Nature; an accordance with this nature is called The Path (of Duty); the cultivation of this path is called Instruction.

2. sex; gender
3. (grammar) gender
4. sexual intercourse
5. -ness; -ity (suffix forming nouns and adjectives, denoting qualities)

Others:

• → Tangut: 𗵤 (*sjij¹)

• Ding, Fubao (丁福保) (1922),  “性” in 佛學大辭典 [A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms].
• “性”, 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–

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. one's nature
2. characteristic
3. sex, gender
4. content

• Go-on: しょう (shō, Jōyō)^{←しやう (syau, historical)}
• Kan-on: せい (sei, Jōyō)
• Kun: さが (saga, 性)、なりくせ (narikuse, 性)
• Nanori: なり (nari)、もと (moto)

From Middle Chinese 性 (MC sjengH, “nature of something, inherent quality”).

The goon, so the initial borrowing.

• (Tokyo) しょー [shóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [ɕo̞ː]

性(しょう) • (shō) ^{←しやう (syau)?}

1. the nature of something

From Middle Chinese 性 (MC sjengH, “nature of something, inherent quality”).

The kan'on, so a later borrowing.

• (Tokyo) せー [séꜜè] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [se̞ː]

性(せい) • (sei) 

1. sex, gender
2. (grammar) gender

• 性(せい)別(べつ) (seibetsu)

性(せい) • (-sei) 

1. -ity, -ness, the nature of quality or something

• らしさ (rashisa)

Probably from Old Japanese, although the ultimate derivation is unknown. Appears in The Tale of Genji and The Tales of Ise of the Heian period.^[3]

• 相

• (Tokyo) さが [sáꜜgà] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠ɡa̠]

性(さが) • (saga) 

1. one's nature
2. characteristic

• 本(ほん)能(のう) (honnō)

(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): [sʰʌ̹ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [성]

 

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

性

Wikisource

性 (eumhun 성품 성 (seongpum seong))

1. hanja form^? of 성 (“nature; character; sex”)
2. hanja form^? of 성 (“-ness; -ity (suffix forming nouns and adjectives, denoting qualities)”)

性: Hán Nôm readings: tính, dính, tánh

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