祂 (tā) — third-person pronoun for God (in Christian Bible); third-person pronoun for divine beings (in fiction, especially fantasy)

Definition

祂 (tā) is the third-person pronoun reserved for God or divine beings — the capitalized 'He/Him' of Chinese. Use it only for deities; for ordinary people use 他.

noun
third-person pronoun for God (in Christian Bible)third-person pronoun for divine beings (in fiction, especially fantasy)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 祂。
    tā Shì yǔ zhòu de chuàng zào zhě.
    He is the creator of the universe.
  • ，祂。
    Zài xiǎo shuō zhōng, tā yōng yǒu wú qióng de lì liàng.
    In the novel, He possesses infinite power.
  • 祂。
    Xìn tú men xiàng tā qí dǎo.
    Believers pray to Him.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
示示shì
Sound part声符shēngfú
也
也yě祂
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

祂 puts 示 on the left as the meaning side and 也 on the right as the sound side.

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