Definitions
(third-person pronoun for God in the Christian Bible); (third-person pronoun for divine beings in fiction)
Etymology
About
The character "祂" was formulated in the modern era as a third-person pronoun specifically for deities, originating from the need to distinguish divine references within translated religious texts. Its structure integrates the radical 示, which denotes matters related to spirits or worship, with the phonetic component 也, aligning with the pattern of other personal pronouns like 他 and 她. This character lacks any classical Chinese ancestry and was constructed by applying existing character elements to a new semantic purpose. Initially coined for Christian theological contexts to represent God, its usage has broadened to include other religious traditions where a distinct pronoun for sacred beings is employed.