丙

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

丙 (Kangxi radical 1, 一+4, 5 strokes, cangjie input 一人月 (MOB), four-corner 1022₇, composition ⿱一内)

1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №515

Derived characters

• 㑂, 𠰳, 𪣃, 𡛦, 怲, 抦, 𬇞, 陃, 昞, 𣍪, 柄, 炳, 眪, 䋑, 𱥞, 蛃, 鈵, 鞆, 𮩺, 𠛥, 邴, 昺, 氞, 苪, 𢨿, 病, 窉, 䇤, 㪅, 㶮, 㔷
• 𰀒, 𰀕

Further reading

Chinese Wikisource has digitized text of the Kangxi Dictionary entry for 丙:

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Wikisource

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 78, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 35
• Dae Jaweon: page 156, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 16, character 3
• Unihan data for U+4E19

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 丙
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script j30094 j30095 j30096 j30097 j30098 j30099 j30100 j30101 j30102 j30103 j30104 j30105 j30106 j30107 j30108 j30109 j30110 j30111 j30112 j30113 j30114 j30115 j30116 j30117 j30118 j30119 j30120 j30121 j30122 j30123 j30124 j30125 Bronze inscriptions b20266 b20267 b20268 b20269 b20270 b20271 b20272 b20273 b20274 b20275 b20276 b20277 b20278 b20279 b20280 b20281 b20282 b20283 b20284 b20285 b20286 b20287 b20288 b20289 b20290 b20291 Small seal script s10945 Transcribed ancient scripts L35138 L35139 L35140 L17697 L17698 L17699 L17700 L17701 L17702 L17703 L17704 L17705 L17706 L17707 L17708 L17709
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Various theories:

• Pictogram (象形) – shoulders (Shuowen).
• Pictogram (象形) – the tail of a fish (Erya).
• Pictogram (象形) – pedestal.
• Pictogram (象形) – small table.
• Original form of 柄 (OC *praŋʔ, *praŋs).

Whatever its original sense may be, it has been lost and replaced by its early use as a heavenly stem.

Etymology 1

Baxter and Sagart (2014) note the phonological relationship between 丙 (OC *praŋʔ) and 兩 (OC *p.raŋʔ, “a pair”); how these two are graphically related is noted in Baxter (1992). Smith (2011) suggests that these two words are not only phonologically similar but also etymologically related, with 丙, meaning "couplet" or "bivalve", referring to an asterism.

Pronunciation

Definitions

丙

1. the third of the ten heavenly stems
2. third; C
3. a surname

Coordinate terms

• (Chinese heavenly stems) 天干 (tiāngān); 甲 (jiǎ), 乙 (yǐ), 丙 (bǐng), 丁, 戊 (wù), 己 (jǐ), 庚 (gēng), 辛 (xīn), 壬 (rén), 癸 (guǐ) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese heavenly stems)}

Compounds

Descendants

• → Zhuang: bingj

Etymology 2

References

• “Entry #1304”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. the third of the ten heavenly stems
2. third in rank

Readings

• Go-on: ひょう (hyō)^{←ひやう (fyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: へい (hei, Jōyō)
• Kun: ひのえ (hinoe, 丙)

Etymology 1

 丙 on Japanese Wikipedia

 Heavenly Stems on Wikipedia

From Middle Chinese 丙 (pjæng^X).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) へ​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

丙(へい) • (hei) 

1. the third of the ten heavenly stems; something of the third rank

   Hypernyms: 天干 (tenkan), 十干 (jikkan)

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

Derived terms

Etymology 2

火 (Hi, “Fire”, one of the Five Elements) +‎ の (no, attributive marker) +‎ 兄 (e, “elder brother”)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ひのえ (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

丙(ひのえ) • (hinoe) 

1. the third of the ten heavenly stems

   Hypernyms: 天干 (tenkan), 十干 (jikkan)

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

Korean

Hanja

丙 (eumhun 셋째 천간 병 (setjjae cheon'gan byeong))

1. Hanja form^? of 병 (“third heavenly stem”).
2. Hanja form^? of 병 (“third”).

丙 (eumhun 남녘 병 (namnyeok byeong))

1. Hanja form^? of 병 (“south, southern”).

References

• Naver Hanja Dictionary: 丙

Vietnamese

Han character

丙: Hán Việt readings: bính
丙: Nôm readings: biếng, bính

1. chữ Hán form of Bính (“third of the ten heavenly stems”).

   Hypernyms: 天干, 十干

   Coordinate terms: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸

Compounds

References

• Nom Foundation
• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999