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Following on the hoofs of "Sumomomomomomomomo" (11/17/21), here's another good one, from rit majors:

(source)

For context:

Both panels are from the same published book in the University of Tokyo library (drawing by Torii Kiyomasu or Torii Kiyomitsu, Horeki 8 [1758] [accession number E24: 1310], formerly in the collection of Koichi Toyama; 刊本　鳥居清倍または鳥居清満作画　宝暦8 年[1758]　【書庫E24:1310】).

On the scroll is a succession of thirteen 子子子子子子子子子子子子子.

To show the enormous phonological complexity and lexical usage of kanji, here follows an extensive, but far from exhaustive, treatment of 子 in Japanese (per Wiktionary [abbreviated]).

Definition of 子:

1. child
2. honorific for an adult man
3. honorific for a learned man, master
4. man in general
5. fourth rank of nobility in Meiji–postwar Japan, viscount
6. egg, fruit, seed
7. small object
8. interest
9. diminutive suffix
10. Rat (earthly branch)

Readings

• Go-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: す (su, Jōyō)
• Sō-on: つ (tsu)
• Kan’yō-on: ず (zu)
• Kun: こ (ko, 子, Jōyō); ね (ne, 子); み (mi, 子)
• Nanori: このえ (konoe); さね (sane); しげ (shige); しげる (shigeru); たか (taka); ただ (tada); たね (tane); ちか (chika); つぐ (tsugu); とし (toshi); みる (miru); やす (yasu)

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese, attested in the Kojiki (712 C.E.) and the Man'yōshū (c. 759 C.E.), two of the oldest examples of written Japanese.⟨ko₁⟩ → */kʷo/ → /ko/

Cognate with 蚕 (ko, “silkworm”) and possibly 小 (ko, “little”, diminutive prefix).

Noun

子(こ) • (ko)  (counter 人)

1. a child

• 男の子 (otoko no ko): male child → boy

  いい子 (ii ko): good boy; good girl

• (figuratively) a girl, especially a dear or desired one (compare use of English baby, babe)
• a smaller or younger version of a bigger object

  木の子 (ki no ko): tree + child/little one → 茸 (kinoko, “mushroom”)

  竹の子 (take no ko): bamboo + child/little one → 筍 (takenoko, “bamboo shoot”)

• (hanafuda, card games, by extension, board games, gambling) person who is dealt cards

Prefix

子(こ) • (ko-)

1. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object

   子会社 (kogaisha): derivative + company → a subsidiary

   子犬 (koinu): derivative + dog → a puppy

子(こ) • (-ko)

1. suffix used in female given names, such as 智子 (​Tomoko), 英子 (​Eiko), 秀子 (​Hideko), 美奈子 (​Minako)
2. (rare) suffix used in male given names
3. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)

   振子 (furiko): an object that swings → a pendulum

4. roe (only when preceded by a fish name, or fish-related prefix)

   明太子 (mentaiko, “pollock roe”)

   飛子 (tobiko, “flying fish roe”)

 

Etymology 2

The goon reading of shi is likely the original borrowing:From Middle Chinese 子 (MC t͡sɨ^X), also used in the Man'yōshū (c. 759 C.E.) as 借音 (shakuon) kana for ⟨si⟩. Compare modern Mandarin 子 (zǐ).

/t͡sɨ/ → /sɨ/ → */ɕɨ/ → /ɕi/

The tōon reading su appears later, and only shows up in certain set terms borrowed from Chinese, where it seems to serve as a kind of nominalizing suffix:

/t͡sɨ/ → /sɨ/ → */sʉ/ → /su/

Pronunciation

• On’yomi
  • (Tokyo) し​ [shíꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɕi]

• On’yomi: Tōon
  • IPA^(key): [sɨ̥ᵝ]

Affix

子(し) or 子(す) • (shi or su)

1. a child
2. Short for 子爵 (shishaku): the fourth rank of nobility in Meiji–postwar Japan, equivalent to a viscount
3. an honorific for a learned man, such as teacher or master
4. a philosophy branch of Chinese literature, either derived from or outside of the Hundred Schools of Thought
5. an object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another object
6. an object having a particular state or property (sometimes diminutive)

   中性子 (chūseishi): neutral + small thing → a neutron

   椅子 (isu): chair + small thing → a chair

Usage notes

• This affix is never used in isolation. It is only used in on'yomi compounds.
• In some kanji compounds, 子 is part of the word but does not carry much meaning in Japanese, as in 椅子 (isu, “chair”). Possibly because of this erosion of meaning, spelling out 子 in some compounds has become optional, as in 椰子 vs. 椰 (yashi, “a palm tree”), or 柚子 vs. 柚 (yuzu, “an aromatic citron”).
• In some compounds, the shi or su reading becomes voiced as ji or zu due to rendaku.

Pronoun

子(し) • (shi)

1. (archaic) second-person pronoun: you (of one's equals)

Proper noun

子(し) • (Shi)

1. (Chinese astrology) Rat, the first of the twelve Earthly Branches

Etymology 3

Contracted from 鼠 (nezumi, “mouse, rat”)

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ね [nè] (Heiban – [0])
  • IPA^(key): [ne̞]

Proper noun

子(ね) • (Ne)

1. (Chinese astrology) Rat, the first of the twelve Earthly Branches:
   1. north

      Synonym: 北 (kita)

   2. the hours between 11:00 P.M./midnight and 1:00/2:00 A.M.
   3. a day or year assigned to the Rat
   4. the eleventh month of the lunar calendar
2. a place name

Syllable

子 • (ne)

1. (dated, until the 19th century) variant katakana syllable ネ (ne).

Etymology 4

子(み) • (mi) Noun

(archaic, rare) Alternative spelling of 実 (mi): a fruit, nut, or seed (of a plant, tree, etc.); ingredients put in a soup; a content, substance

I honestly don't know how to pronounce this string of thirteen 子 kanji, but Google Translate reads it as "sunegoshinejiko-ko-ko sunekoshi" and translates it into English as "child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child child".

Bing Translator romanizes the string as "ko ko ko ko ko ko ko ko ko ko ko ko ko" and renders it into English as "hild child child child child child child child".

Baidu Fanyi doesn't romanize the string, but listening to the speech generator, it seems to give "zi zi zi zi zi zi zi zi zi zi zi zi zi" for the pronunciation and "child and child child child child child" for the translation.

All that aside, I surmise that the patriarch in the illustration is contemplating a long succession of male heirs, not a bunch of girls.  Alas!

Selected readings

• "An evening with Victor Mair", Pluck Tea (6/1/11)
• "Recognizing half of a character and half of a word" (5/2/21)

November 20, 2021 @ 9:18 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Etymology, Phonetics and phonology, Pronunciation, Variation

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