View source for Variant Chinese characters

{{Short description|Chinese characters outside of a standard}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=March 2024}}

{{Image frame|width=200|caption=Two road signs in [[San Po Kong]], Hong Kong indicating the same name for [[Kai Tak]] with different variants ({{lang|zh-Hant|啓}} and {{lang|zh-Hant|啟}}) of the character for "Kai".
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[[Chinese characters]] may have several variant forms—visually distinct [[glyphs]] that represent the same underlying meaning and pronunciation. Variants of a given character are ''[[allograph]]s'' of one another, and many are directly analogous to allographs present in the [[English alphabet]], such as the double-storey {{angbr|a}} and single-storey {{angbr|ɑ}} variants of the letter A, with the latter more commonly appearing in [[handwriting]]. Some contexts require usage of specific variants.

{{Infobox Chinese | title = Variant character
| pic = File:Source Han Sans Version Difference.svg
| piccap = Regional variants of the character {{hani|返}} as rendered by the [[Source Han Sans]] font family
| t = 異體字
| s = 异体字
| kanji = 異体字
| romaji = itaiji
| hangul = 이체자
| rr = icheja
| l = variant character form
| p = yìtǐzì
| y = yihtáijih
| j = ji6-tai2-zi6
| t2 = 又體
| s2 = 又体
| l2 = alternative form
| p2 = yòutǐ
| y2 = yauhtái
| j2 = jau6-tai2
| t3 = 或體
| s3 = 或体
| l3 = or form
| p3 = huòtǐ
| y3 = waahktái
| j3 = waak6-tai2
| c4 = 重文
| l4 = alternative writing
| p4 = chóngwén
| y4 = chùngmàn
| j4 = cung4-man4
| qn = chữ dị thể
| hn = 𡨸異體
}}

== Nature of variants <span class="anchor" id="Orthodox and vulgar variants"></span><span class="anchor" id="Orthodox"></span><span class="anchor" id="Vulgar"></span> ==
{{multiple image | align = right || direction = vertical || width = 200
| image1 = Variations of the 213th Chinese radical, gui 'tortoise'.png
| caption1 = Variants of the character {{zhp|t=龜|s=龟|p=guī|l=turtle}} collected from printed sources {{circa|1800}}
| image2 = Four variant Chinese characters.png
| caption2 = 5 of the 30 variant characters found in the preface of the ''Kangxi Dictionary'' not found in the dictionary itself
}}
Before the 20th century, variation in the shape of characters was ubiquitous, a dynamic which continued after the invention of [[woodblock printing]]. For example, prior to the [[Qin dynasty]] (221–206&nbsp;BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either {{lang|lzh|明}} or {{lang|lzh|朙}}—with either {{nwr|{{lang|lzh|日}} 'Sun'}} or {{nwr|{{lang|lzh|囧}} 'window'}} on the left, with the {{nwr|{{lang|lzh|月}} 'Moon'}} [[Chinese character components|component]] on the right. [[Li Si]] ({{died-in|208&nbsp;BC}}), the [[Chancellor (China)|Chancellor]] of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin [[small seal script]] across China following [[Qin's wars of unification|the wars]] that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the {{lang|lzh|朙}} form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as {{lang|lzh|明}}. However, the increased usage of {{lang|lzh|朙}} was followed by proliferation of a third variant: {{lang|lzh|眀}}, with {{nwr|{{lang|lzh|目}} 'eye'}} on the left—likely derived as a contraction of {{lang|lzh|朙}}. Ultimately, {{lang|lzh|明}} became the character's standard form.{{sfn|Bökset|2006|p=19}}

New variants also result from larger shifts in the writing system as a whole, such as the process of ''[[libian]]'' and ''[[liding]]'' that resulted in the [[clerical script]]. According to the palaeographer Qiu Xigui, the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical ''shape'' ({{zhi|c=字形|p=zìxíng}}), the "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical ''form'' ({{zhi|s=字体|t=字體|p=zìtǐ}}), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes".{{sfn|Qiu|2000|pp=44–45}} ''Libian'' often involved significant omissions, additions, or transmutations of the forms used by Qin small seal script, while ''liding'' is the direct regularization and linearization of shapes to convert them into clerical forms while preserving their original structure. For example, the  character for 'year' underwent ''liding'' to the clerical script form {{hani|秊}}, while the same character after undergoing ''libian'' resulted in the orthodox form {{hani|年}}. Similarly, ''libian'' and ''liding'' created the two distinct characters {{lang|zh-Hant|虎}} and {{lang|zh-Hant|乕}} for 'tiger'.

There are variants that arise through the use of different radicals to refer to specific definitions of a polysemous character. For instance, the character {{lang|zh-Hant|雕}} could mean either 'a type of hawk' or 'carve'. Variants using different radicals to specify thus developed: respectively {{lang|zh-Hant|鵰}}, with a {{kxr|bird}} radical, and {{lang|zh-Hant|琱}}, with a {{kxr|jade}} radical.

In rare cases, two characters in ancient Chinese with similar meanings were confused and conflated when their modern Chinese readings merged, for example, {{lang|zh-Hant|飢}} and {{lang|zh-Hant|饑}}, are both read as {{zhp|p=jī}} and mean 'famine', used interchangeably in the modern language, even though {{lang|zh-Hant|飢}} initially meant 'insufficient food to satiate' and {{lang|zh-Hant|饑}} meant 'famine' in [[Old Chinese]]. The two characters formerly belonged to two different Old Chinese [[Old Chinese phonology|rime groups]] ({{lang|zh-Hant|脂}} and {{lang|zh-Hant|微}} groups, respectively) which indicates they had different pronunciations back then. A similar situation is responsible for the existence of variants of the particle {{lang|zh-Hant|於}} 'in' which had the ancient form {{lang|zh|于}}, now used as its simplified form. In each case above, variants were merged into single simplified forms.

== Orthodoxy ==
Character forms that are most orthodox are known as ''orthodox variants'' ({{zhi|c=正字|p=zhèngzì}}), which is sometimes taken as mean the forms present in the ''[[Kangxi Dictionary]]'' ({{zhi|t=康熙字典體|p=Kāngxī zìdiǎn tǐ}}), which usually represent the orthodox forms used in late imperial China. Non-orthodox forms are known as ''folk variants'' ({{zhi|c=俗字|p=súzì}}; [[Revised Romanization]]: {{Transliteration|ko|sokja}}; [[Hepburn romanization|Hepburn]]: {{Transliteration|ja|zokuji}}). Some folk variants are longstanding abbreviations or calligraphic forms, and later became the basis for the [[simplified forms]] adopted on the mainland. For example, {{hani|痴}} is a folk variant corresponding to the orthodox form {{hani|癡}} 'foolish'. These forms differ by their phonetic component, with the folk variant using a character with a "close enough" pronunciation but having much less strokes and thus quicker to write. In mainland China, simplified forms are called ''[[xin zixing]]'', typically contrasting with  ''[[jiu zixing]]'', which are usually  the ''Kangxi'' form.

Orthodox and vulgar forms may only differ by the length or location of individual strokes, whether certain strokes intersect, or the presence or absence of minor strokes (dots). These are often not considered to amount to being discrete variants. For instance, {{lang|zh-Hans|述}} is the new form of the character with traditional orthography {{lang|ko|述}} 'recount', 'describe'. As another example, the [[Wu (surname)|surname]] {{hani|吴}}, also the name of an [[Wu (state)|ancient state]], is the 'new character shape' form of the character traditionally written {{hani|吳}}.

== Regional standards ==
[[File:Chinese standard variants samples.svg|upright=0.6|thumb|right|From right to left: Kangxi Dictionary forms, standards in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Significant differences are highlighted in yellow.{{efn|{{hani|玄}} is not written completely in the ''[[Kangxi Dictionary]]'' due to the [[naming taboo]] prohibiting writing the characters of an Emperor's given name. {{hani|玄}}, as well as all compounds using it as a component, lack the final dot stroke. The final vertical stroke in {{hani|燁}} is also omitted.}}]]
Character variant exist throughout every writing system that uses Chinese characters, including [[written Chinese]], [[Japanese writing system|Japanese]], and [[Korean writing system|Korean]]. Several governments of countries that speak these languages have standardized their writing systems by specifying certain variants as the standard form. The choice of which variants to use has resulted in some bifurcation of written Chinese between [[simplified forms|simplified]] and [[traditional forms]]. The standardization of simplified forms in Japan was distinct from the process in mainland China.

The standard character forms prescribed by the government of each region are described in:
* The ''[[List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters]]'' for mainland China
* The ''[[List of Graphemes of Commonly-Used Chinese Characters]]'' for Hong Kong (educational usage only)
* The ''[[Standard Form of National Characters]]'' for Taiwan (educational usage only)
* The list of {{Transliteration|ja|[[jōyō kanji]]}} for Japan
* The ''[[Kangxi Dictionary]]'' in Korea

== Use in computing ==
[[File:劍-variants.svg|right|thumb|upright=0.8|Twelve variants of the character {{nwr|{{lang|zh|劍}} {{Transliteration|zh|jiàn}} 'sword'}} that vary both in which components are used, as well as which specific [[allograph]]s are used for said components:
{{blist|On the left side, {{lang|zh-Hant|僉}}, {{lang|ja|㑒}} and {{lang|zh-Hans|佥}} {{Transliteration|zh|qiān}} are allographs of the same phonetic component.|On the right side, {{kxr|刂|v=y}}, {{kxr|釒|v=y}}, and {{nwr|{{lang|zh|刃}} 'blade edge'}} are each distinct signific components used by the different variants. {{lang|zh|刄}} is an allograph of {{lang|zh|刃}}.}}]]

[[Unicode]] deals with variant characters in a complex manner, as a result of the process of [[Han unification]]. In Han unification, some variants that are nearly identical between Chinese-, Japanese-, Korean-speaking regions are encoded in the same [[code point]], and can only be distinguished using different [[typeface]]s. Other variants that are more divergent are encoded in different code points. On [[webpage]]s, displaying the correct variants for the intended language is dependent on the typefaces installed on the computer, the configuration of the web browser and the [[language tag]]s of web pages. Systems that are ready to display the correct variants are rare because many computer users do not have standard typefaces installed and the most popular web browsers are not configured to display the correct variants by default. The following are some examples of variant forms of Chinese characters with different code points and language tags.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Different code points
|-
! colspan="3" scope="colgroup" | Chinese !! rowspan="2" scope="col" | Japanese !! rowspan="2" scope="col" | Korean
|-
! scope="col" | Mainland !! scope="col" | Taiwan !! scope="col" | Hong Kong
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|戶戸户}}||{{lang|zh-tw|戶戸户}}||{{lang|zh-hk|戶戸户}}||{{lang|ja|戶戸户}}||{{lang|ko|戶戸户}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|爲為为}}||{{lang|zh-tw|爲為为}}||{{lang|zh-hk|爲為为}}||{{lang|ja|爲為为}}||{{lang|ko|爲為为}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|強强}}||{{lang|zh-tw|強强}}||{{lang|zh-hk|強强}}||{{lang|ja|強强}}||{{lang|ko|強强}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|畫畵画}}||{{lang|zh-tw|畫畵画}}||{{lang|zh-hk|畫畵画}}||{{lang|ja|畫畵画}}||{{lang|ko|畫畵画}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|線綫线}}||{{lang|zh-tw|線綫线}}||{{lang|zh-hk|線綫线}}||{{lang|ja|線綫线}}||{{lang|ko|線綫线}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|匯滙}}||{{lang|zh-tw|匯滙}}||{{lang|zh-hk|匯滙}}||{{lang|ja|匯滙}}||{{lang|ko|匯滙}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|裏裡}}||{{lang|zh-tw|裏裡}}||{{lang|zh-hk|裏裡}}||{{lang|ja|裏裡}}||{{lang|ko|裏裡}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|夜亱}}||{{lang|zh-tw|夜亱}}||{{lang|zh-hk|夜亱}}||{{lang|ja|夜亱}}||{{lang|ko|夜亱}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|龜亀龟}}||{{lang|zh-tw|龜亀龟}}||{{lang|zh-hk|龜亀龟}}||{{lang|ja|龜亀龟}}||{{lang|ko|龜亀龟}}
|}

The following examples have the same code points, but different language tags. However language tags rarely work correctly to get the expected forms from text renderers (e.g. in the table below where all rendered glyphs may look the same).

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Same code point, different language tags
|-
! colspan="3" scope="colgroup" | Chinese !! rowspan="2" scope="col" | Japanese !! rowspan="2" scope="col" | Korean
|-
! scope="col" | Mainland !! scope="col" | Taiwan !! scope="col" | Hong Kong
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|刃}}||{{lang|zh-tw|刃}}||{{lang|zh-hk|刃}}||{{lang|ja|刃}}||{{lang|ko|刃}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|令}}||{{lang|zh-tw|令}}||{{lang|zh-hk|令}}||{{lang|ja|令}}||{{lang|ko|令}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|毒}}||{{lang|zh-tw|毒}}||{{lang|zh-hk|毒}}||{{lang|ja|毒}}||{{lang|ko|毒}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|骨}}||{{lang|zh-tw|骨}}||{{lang|zh-hk|骨}}||{{lang|ja|骨}}||{{lang|ko|骨}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|縣}}||{{lang|zh-tw|縣}}||{{lang|zh-hk|縣}}||{{lang|ja|縣}}||{{lang|ko|縣}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|誤}}||{{lang|zh-tw|誤}}||{{lang|zh-hk|誤}}||{{lang|ja|誤}}||{{lang|ko|誤}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|船}}||{{lang|zh-tw|船}}||{{lang|zh-hk|船}}||{{lang|ja|船}}||{{lang|ko|船}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|述}}||{{lang|zh-tw|述}}||{{lang|zh-hk|述}}||{{lang|ja|述}}||{{lang|ko|述}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|煙}}||{{lang|zh-tw|煙}}||{{lang|zh-hk|煙}}||{{lang|ja|煙}}||{{lang|ko|煙}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|贈}}||{{lang|zh-tw|贈}}||{{lang|zh-hk|贈}}||{{lang|ja|贈}}||{{lang|ko|贈}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|雪}}||{{lang|zh-tw|雪}}||{{lang|zh-hk|雪}}||{{lang|ja|雪}}||{{lang|ko|雪}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|及}}||{{lang|zh-tw|及}}||{{lang|zh-hk|及}}||{{lang|ja|及}}||{{lang|ko|及}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|角}}||{{lang|zh-tw|角}}||{{lang|zh-hk|角}}||{{lang|ja|角}}||{{lang|ko|角}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|條}}||{{lang|zh-tw|條}}||{{lang|zh-hk|條}}||{{lang|ja|條}}||{{lang|ko|條}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|扁}}||{{lang|zh-tw|扁}}||{{lang|zh-hk|扁}}||{{lang|ja|扁}}||{{lang|ko|扁}}
|-
|{{lang|zh-cn|低}}||{{lang|zh-tw|低}}||{{lang|zh-hk|低}}||{{lang|ja|低}}||{{lang|ko|低}}
|-
|}

Instead, the Unicode standard allows encoding these variants as [[variation sequence]]s,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://unicode.org/faq/vs.html | title=Variation Sequences; FAQ | publisher=Unicode Consortium }}</ref> by appending a [[variation selector]] (a glyph-less non-spacing mark) to the standard CJK ''unified'' ideograph (it also works directly inside plain text, without needing to use any [[rich text]] format to select the appropriate language or script, and allows easier and more selective control when the same language/script combination needs several variants). The list of valid variation sequences is standardized by Unicode, defined in the Ideographic Variation Database (IVD),<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/ivd/ | title=Ideographic Variation Database | publisher=Unicode Consortium }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr37/ | title=UTS #37, Unicode Ideographic Variation Database | publisher=Unicode Consortium }}</ref> part of the Unicode Characters Database (UCD),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr44/ | title = Unicode Character Database, Standard Annex #44 | publisher = Unicode Consortium }} Explains the different character properties.</ref> and it is expansible without reencoding new code points in the UCS (and since the Unicode versions where variation selectors were encoded and the IVD established, it's no longer needed to encode any new ''compatibility'' ideograph to render them; the two blocks [[CJK Compatibility Ideographs]] in the [[Basic Multilingual Plane|BMP]] and [[CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement]]  in the [[Supplementary Ideographic Plane|SIP]] are now frozen since Unicode 4.1, except to fix a few past mistakes that were forgotten during the Han unification process for the review of normative sources).<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr45/ | title=Unicode® Standard Annex #45, U-Source Ideograph | publisher=Unicode Consortium }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Table Hanzi}}
* {{Annotated link|Ryakuji}}
* {{Annotated link|Z-variant}}
* {{Annotated link|Variant form (Unicode)}}
* [[Chinese character rationalization]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|25em}}

=== Works cited ===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Citation |last=Bökset |first=Roar |url=https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:200810/FULLTEXT01 |title=Long Story of Short Forms: The Evolution of Simplified Chinese Characters |publisher=Stockholm University |year=2006 |isbn=978-91-628-6832-1 |series=Stockholm East Asian Monographs |volume=11 |language=en |format=PDF |access-date=2024-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202010517/http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:200810/FULLTEXT01 |archive-format=PDF |archive-date=2021-12-02 |url-status=live}}
* {{Citation |last=Qiu |first=Xigui |title=Chinese Writing |publisher=Society for the Study of Early China and The Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-55729-071-7 |location=Berkeley |translator-last=Mattos |translator-first=Gilbert L. |author-mask=Qiu Xigui (裘锡圭) |author-link=Qiu Xigui |orig-date=1988 |translator2-last=Norman |translator2-first=Jerry}}
* {{Citation |url=https://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw |publisher=Academica Sinica |year=2017 |script-title=zh:異體字字典 |trans-title=Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants |ref={{sfnref|''Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants''}} |language=zh}}
{{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Variant Chinese character}}
[[Category:Chinese characters]]