妾

妾 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 卜廿女 (YTV), four-corner 0040₄, composition ⿱立女)

• 接, 𮀨, 𮋵, 踥

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 257, character 39
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6147
• Dae Jaweon: page 523, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1040, character 8
• Unihan data for U+59BE

Historical forms of the character 妾
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Uncertain.

Possibly a pictogram (象形) of a woman with a headdress. Cognate to 女 with 辛 on top, though in the modern form the headdress has simplified to unrelated 立.

Alternatively, may be an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 辛 (“torture device”) + 女 (“woman”) – female criminal.

Cognate to 捷 (OC *zeb, “victory; booty”) (Schuessler, 2007). See there for more.

妾

1. slave woman

   • 馬牛其風，臣妾逋逃，勿敢越逐，祗復之，我商賚汝。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     马牛其风，臣妾逋逃，勿敢越逐，祗复之，我商赉汝。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 7^th – 4^th centuries BCE

     Mǎ niú qí fēng, chén qiè būtáo, wù gǎn yuè zhú, zhī fù zhī, wǒ shāng lài rǔ. [Pinyin]

     When horses or oxen run about in heat, or when slaves and slave women abscond, do not dare go away [from the camp] and pursue them; but if you [catch them and] respectfully return them, I will reward you.

2. concubine

   • 初命曰：「誅不孝，無易樹子，無以妾為妻。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     初命曰：「诛不孝，无易树子，无以妾为妻。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Chū mìng yuē: “Zhū bùxiào, wú yì shùzǐ, wú yǐ qiè wèi qī.” [Pinyin]

     The first injunction in their agreement was, "Slay the unfilial; change not the son who has been appointed heir; exalt not a concubine to be the wife."

3. (archaic, humble) I; me (used by women to show modesty)

   • 妾有黃金釵，嫁時爲首飾。今日贈君行，千里長相憶。 [Korean Literary Sinitic, trad.]

     From: 《效崔國輔體》, Heo Nanseolheon, early 1600s

     Cheop yu hwanggeum chae, ga si wi susik. Geumil jeung gun haeng, cheol li jang sang eok. [Sino-Korean]

     I have a golden hairpin: my jewelry when I was married. Today I give it to you as you leave; long shall we remember each other, a thousand miles away.

4. a surname

• (slave woman): 女奴 (nǚnú)
• (concubine):

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. concubine
2. servant

• Go-on: しょう (shō)^{←せふ (sefu, historical)}
• Kan-on: しょう (shō)^{←せふ (sefu, historical)}
• Kun: めかけ (mekake, 妾)、わらわ (warawa, 妾)

(The following entry is uncreated: てかけ.)

(The following entry is uncreated: おんなめ.)

妾(しょう) • (shō) 

1. concubine

妾(しょう) • (shō) 

1. (humble, feminine) I, me

From Middle Chinese 妾 (MC tshjep). Recorded as Middle Korean 쳡〮 (chyép) (Yale: chyep) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

 

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

妾

Wikisource

妾 (eumhun 첩 첩 (cheop cheop))

1. hanja form^? of 첩 (“concubine”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [1]

妾: Hán Nôm readings: thiếp, thê

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