Character: 載
Modern (Beijing) reading: zài
Preclassic Old Chinese: ćǝ̄s (~ -ks)
Classic Old Chinese: cǝ̄h
Western Han Chinese: cǝ̄h
Eastern Han Chinese: cǝ̄h
Early Postclassic Chinese: cǝ̄̀
Middle Postclassic Chinese: cǝ̄̀
Late Postclassic Chinese: cǝ̄̀j
Middle Chinese: cʌ̀j
English meaning : to load, carry; pour, fill in; conveyance; to wear
Russian meaning[s]: 1) нагружать; груз; наполнять; класть в...; 2) перевозить на...; ехать на...; на; 3) помещать в (напр. газетах); записывать, регистрировать, заносить в книги; литература, книги; 4) ставить, выставлять; подавать (на стол); 5) превосходить; 6) начинать(ся); 7) снова, еще раз, вторично, вм. 再; 8) древн. так; в таком случае; то; [zǎi] год
Comments: With the meaning 'to wear' the character has also a rather obscure MC reading tл̀j (a dialectal variant of cл́j?). Also read *ʒ́ǝ̄(k)-s, MC ʒл̀j (FQ 昨代), Pek. zài 'a load' (although this meaning is sometimes also read with a voiceless initial). The character is also used for a homonymous *ćǝ̄(k)-s 'to initiate, start work; undertaking' (perhaps related to 作 *ćāk 'act, do, make'); for *ćǝ̄ʔ, MC cл́j (FQ 作亥), Pek. zǎi 'a turn, a year'; sometimes also instead of 再 *ćǝ̄(k)-s 'twice, again' (q.v.). Old Chinese rhymes point to *-(k)-s (EZ -h) rather than *-ʔ-s (EZ -ʔh) (although there are some dubious cases). Strangely enough, Sino-Vietnamese has reversed MC tones: it has ta`i for 'to carry' (MC cл̀j), but tái for 'year' (MC cл́j).
Radical: 159
Four-angle index: 6821
Karlgren code: 0943 |a ́-b ́
Vietnamese reading: ta`i
Shijing occurrences: 32.4, 54.1, 58.2
