「天干地支」
| Entry #1 | |
| Pronunciation： | tin1 gon1 dei6 zi1 |
| Individual Character Meaning： |
天 sky; day; 24 hours 干 to interfere with; to concern; relationship; concern; several; many; shield 地 land; -ly; ground; field; floor; place; locality; area 支 (measure); to support; to sustain; to control; to dominate; (of money) to pay; to withdraw; branch; offshoot |
| Part of Speech： | noun |
| Explanation： |
Literally "Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches". It is a traditional Chinese system of counting. Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches are collectively known as "Stem-Branch".
The 10 Heavenly Stems are 甲(gaap3) 乙(jyut6) 丙(bing2) 丁(ding1) 戊(mou6) 己(gei2) 庚(gang1) 辛(san1) 壬(jam4) 癸(gwai3). The 12 Earthly Branches are 子(zi2) 丑(cau2) 寅(jan4) 卯(maau5) 辰(san4) 巳(zi6) 午(ng5) 未(mei6) 申(san1) 酉(jau5) 戌(seot1) 亥(hoi6). Each Heavenly Stem is paired with an Earthly Branch to form the "stem-branch" sexagenary (i.e. 60 element) cycle that starts with 甲子 (gaap3 zi2) The sexagenary cycle is often used for counting years in the Chinese calendar. Heavenly Stems are also used independently to name things in a particular order -- the first is labeled "gaap3", the second "jyut6", the third "bing2", and so on. It is similar to how "A, B, C" and "α, β, γ" are used in western cultures. Earthly Branches are also traditionally used to denote time. One day is divided into twelve slots called Chinese-hours (時辰), starting from 子時 (zi2 si4), which is 11pm to 1am.
(Eng.) The Hundred Days' Reform of the Qing Dynasty (it is called 戊戌變法 because it occurred in the 戊戌 year)
|
| Synonym： | Synonym： 干支 |
| Copyrights： | © 2021 Hong Kong Lexicography Limited - License |