The ten
Celestial Stems , sometimes known as
Heavenly Stems, are the elements of an ancient
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
cyclic character
numeral systemA numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers, that is a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using graphemes or symbols in a consistent manner....
: Jia (甲), Yi (乙), Bing (丙), Ding (丁), Wu (戊), Ji (己), Geng (庚), Xin (辛), Ren (壬), Gui (癸). They were used for dates as early as the
Shang DynastyThe Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia Dynasty. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper", in the Yellow River valley...
, and are now used with the twelve
Earthly BranchesThe Earthly Branches provide one Chinese system for reckoning time.This system was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter. Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections to follow the orbit of Suìxīng . Astronomers rounded the orbit of Suixing to 12 years...
in the
Sexagenary cycleThe Chinese sexagenary cycle , also known as Stems-Branches , is a cyclic numeral system of 60 combinations of the two basic cycles, the ten Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches ....
. They are associated with the concepts of
yin and yangIn Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin yang is used to describe how seemingly disjunct or opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn...
and the
Five ElementsThe Wu Xing , or the Five Movements, Five Phases or Five Steps/Stages, are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device, in many traditional Chinese fields....
.
The Shang people believed that there were ten suns, each of which appeared in order in a ten-day cycle (旬; xún).
The ten
Celestial Stems , sometimes known as
Heavenly Stems, are the elements of an ancient
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
cyclic character
numeral systemA numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers, that is a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using graphemes or symbols in a consistent manner....
: Jia (甲), Yi (乙), Bing (丙), Ding (丁), Wu (戊), Ji (己), Geng (庚), Xin (辛), Ren (壬), Gui (癸). They were used for dates as early as the
Shang DynastyThe Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia Dynasty. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper", in the Yellow River valley...
, and are now used with the twelve
Earthly BranchesThe Earthly Branches provide one Chinese system for reckoning time.This system was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter. Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections to follow the orbit of Suìxīng . Astronomers rounded the orbit of Suixing to 12 years...
in the
Sexagenary cycleThe Chinese sexagenary cycle , also known as Stems-Branches , is a cyclic numeral system of 60 combinations of the two basic cycles, the ten Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches ....
. They are associated with the concepts of
yin and yangIn Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin yang is used to describe how seemingly disjunct or opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn...
and the
Five ElementsThe Wu Xing , or the Five Movements, Five Phases or Five Steps/Stages, are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device, in many traditional Chinese fields....
.
Table
| |
Celestial
Stem |
PinyinPinyin , or more formally Hanyu Pinyin , is currently the most commonly used romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu means the Chinese language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"...
|
Japanese
kunyomi |
Japanese
on'yomi |
Korean
(RR) |
Vietnamese |
Yin and YangIn Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin yang is used to describe how seemingly disjunct or opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn...
|
|
| 1 |
甲 |
jiǎ |
kinoe |
kō |
갑 (gap) |
giáp |
陽 (yang) |
木 (wood Tree , traditionally translated as Wood, is the growing of the matter, or the matter's growing stage. Tree is the first one of Wu Xing. Tree is yang in character...
) |
| 2 |
乙 |
yǐ |
kinoto |
otsu |
을 (eul) |
ất |
陰 (yin) |
| 3 |
丙 |
bǐng |
hinoe |
hei |
병 (byeong) |
bính |
陽(yang) |
火 (fireFire has been an important part of all cultures and religions, from pre-history to modern day, and was vital to the development of civilization. It has been regarded in many different fashions throughout history.-Greek and Roman Tradition:...
) |
| 4 |
丁 |
dīng |
hinoto |
tei |
정 (jeong) |
đinh |
陰(yin) |
| 5 |
戊 |
wù |
tsuchinoe |
bo |
무 (mu) |
mậu |
陽 (yang) |
土 (earthEarth, home and origin of humanity, has often been worshipped in its own right with its own unique spiritual traditio.-Greek and Roman tradition:...
) |
| 6 |
己 |
jǐ |
tsuchinoto |
ki |
기 (gi) |
kỷ |
陰 (yin) |
| 7 |
庚 |
gēng |
kanoe |
kō |
경 (gyeong) |
canh |
陽 (yang) |
金 (metal Metal , is the decline of the matter, or the matter's decline stage. Metal is the fourth phase of Wu Xing.Metal is yin in character, its motion is inwards and its energy is contracting. It is associated with the west and autumn, old age, the planet Venus and the color white. The archetypal metals...
) |
| 8 |
辛 |
xīn |
kanoto |
shin |
신 (sin) |
tân |
陰 (yin) |
| 9 |
壬 |
rén |
mizunoe |
jin |
임 (im) |
nhâm |
陽 (yang) |
水 (water Water has been important to all peoples of the earth, and it is rich in spiritual tradition.-Greek and Roman tradition:Water is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science...
) |
| 10 |
癸 |
guǐ |
mizunoto |
ki |
계 (gye) |
quý |
陰 (yin) |
Origin
The Shang people believed that there were ten suns, each of which appeared in order in a ten-day cycle (旬; xún). The Heavenly Stems were the names of the ten suns, which may have designated world ages as did the
Five SunsFive Suns is an album by progressive rock group Guapo released in 2003.- Track listing :#Five Suns, Pt. 1 #Five Suns, Pt. 2 #Five Suns, Pt. 3 #Five Suns, Pt. 4 #Five Suns, Pt. 5 *Total length: 46:34...
and the
Six Ages of the WorldThe Six Ages of the World is a Christian historical periodization outline first written about by Saint Augustine circa 400 AD. It is based along Christian religious events, from the birth of Adam to the events of Revelation...
of Saint Augustine. They were found in the
given nameA given name is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
s of the kings of the Shang. Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. The associations with Yin-Yang and the Five Elements developed later, after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty.
The literal meaning of the characters was roughly as follows:
Celestial
Stem | | Meaning |
|---|
| Original | Modern |
|---|
| 甲 |
shell |
armor, one, words related to beetles, crustaceans, methanol, fingernails/toenails |
| 乙 |
fishguts |
two, twist, words related to ethanol |
| 丙 |
fishtail |
bright, fire, fishtail (rare) |
| 丁 |
nail |
male adult, robust, T-shaped, onomatopoeia, also a surname |
| 戊 |
lance |
(not used) |
| 己 |
threads on a loom |
self |
| 庚 |
evening star |
age (of person) |
| 辛 |
to offend superiors |
bitter, piquant, toilsome |
| 壬 |
burden |
to shoulder |
| 癸 |
both feet? |
(not used) |
Current usage
The Stems are still commonly used nowadays in China in counting systems similar to the way the
alphabetAn alphabet is a standardized set of letters basic written symbols or graphemes each of which roughly represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or...
is used in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
. For example:
- Student
The word student is etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb studēre, meaning "to direct one's zeal at"; hence a student could be described as "one who directs zeal at a subject"...
s' grades: with an additional Yōu (優 "Excellence") before the first celestial stem Jiǎ (Japan: yū). However, Wenlin's dictionary entry for 优(優) says English grades A B C D and F correspond to 优, 良, 中, 可, and 差 (yōu, liáng, zhōng, kě, chà), i.e. excellent, good, middle, maybe, and poor.
- Names in legal documents and contracts where English speakers would use A, B, C, etc.
- Choices on multiple choice
Multiple choice is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select the best possible answer out of the choices from a list. The multiple choice format is most frequently used in educational testing, in market research, and in elections-- when a person chooses between multiple...
exams, surveys, etc.
- Organic chemical
Organic chemistry is a discipline within chemistry which involves the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of chemical compounds that contain carbon...
s (e.g. methanolMethanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with formula CH3OH . It is toxic: drinking 10 ml will cause blindness, and as little as 100 ml will cause death...
: 甲醇 jiǎchún; ethanolEthanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug, best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. Ethanol is one of the oldest recreational drugs...
: 乙醇 yǐchún)
- Disease
A disease or medical condition isan abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and signs...
s (Hepatitis AHepatitis A is an acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis A virus , which is most commonly transmitted by the fecal-oral route via contaminated food or drinking water. Every year, approximately 10 million people worldwide are infected with the virus...
: 甲型肝炎 jiǎxíng gānyán; Hepatitis B: 乙型肝炎 yǐxíng gānyán)
- Sports leagues (Serie A
Serie A, called for sponsorship reasons as Serie A TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the Italian football league system operating for eighty years from 1929. It is organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new league like the English Premier...
: 意甲 yìjiǎ)
- Vitamin
A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. The term 'vitamin' first became popular in the early 1800's as a contraction of the words 'vital' and 'mineral', though the actual meaning of the word has developed somewhat since that time...
s (although currently, in this case, the ABC system is more popular)
- Characters conversing in a short text (甲 speaks first, 乙 answers)
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
,
KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
and
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
also use heavenly stems on legal documents in this way. In Korea, letters
gap (甲) and
eul (乙) are consistently used to denote the larger and the smaller contractor (respectively) in a legal contract, and are sometimes used as synonyms for such; this usage is also common in the Korean
ITInformation technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic...
industry.
External links