劉

Translingual

Han character

劉 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+13, 15 strokes, cangjie input 竹金中弓 (HCLN), four-corner 7210₀, composition ⿰𨥫刂)

Derived characters

• 𪝵, 嚠, 嬼, 𢷶, 瀏(浏), 懰(𰑙), 𣞗, 𭶣, 𨮸, 䬟(𱃙), 𩙔, 藰(𰰹), 䉧, 𢤐

Descendants

• 刘 (Simplified Chinese)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 144, character 39
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2224
• Dae Jaweon: page 325, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 359, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5289

• Unihan data for U+F9C7

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 劉姓 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 劉氏 (Cantonese)
• 劉姓 (Gan)
• Làu (sáng) (Eastern Min)
• Lâu (sèⁿ) (Southern Min)
• Liu (English)

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *m·ru) : phonetic 卯 (OC *mruːʔ) + semantic 金 (“metal”) + semantic 刂 (“knife”).

Often written as 卯 (OC *mruːʔ) in the oracle bone script.

Etymology

kill, slaughter

Probably Sino-Tibetan; compare Tedim Chin gou⁵³ / gɔʔ¹¹ < rouh / rɔʔ/h (Schuessler, 2007).

battle-axe

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From sense "kill, slaughter"?”)

surname

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From sense "battle-ax"? Compare 粵/越 "Yue peoples, state of Yue" from 戉 "battle-ax"”)

Two origins are recorded: from 劉累 Liú Lěi, descendant of Emperor Yao and dragon-keeper of King Kong Jia of Xia; and from the Liu state (劉國) ruled by Duke Kang of Liu, younger brother of King Ding of Zhou.

Pronunciation

Definitions

劉

1. (obsolete) a type of battle axe

   • 一人冕，執劉，立于東堂。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     一人冕，执刘，立于东堂。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE

     Yīrén miǎn, zhí liú, lì yú dōng táng.

     One man in a great officer's cap, and holding an axe, stood in the hall, (near the steps) at the east (end).

2. (obsolete) to kill; to slaughter

   • 我王來，既爰宅于茲，重我民，無盡劉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     我王来，既爰宅于兹，重我民，无尽刘。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE

     Wǒ wáng lái, jì yuán zhái yú zī, zhòng wǒ mín, wú jìn liú.

     Our king came, and fixed on this. He did so from a deep concern for our people, and did not wish to see them all being killed.

3. (obsolete) to conquer
4. (obsolete) to wither
5. (～國) State of Liu during the Zhou dynasty
6. a surname

   劉邦／刘邦  ―  Liú Bāng  ―  Liu Bang (founding emperor of the Han Dynasty)

   劉少奇／刘少奇  ―  Liú Shàoqí  ―  Liu Shaoqi (Chinese revolutionary, politician and theorist)

Compounds

See also

• 卯金刀 (Mǎojīndāo)

Descendants

• → English: Liu, Lau
• → Tagalog: Lao

Japanese

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

1. axe
2. kill

Readings

• Go-on: る (ru)
• Kan-on: りゅう (ryū)^{←りう (riu, historical)}
• Kun: ころす (korosu, 劉す); つらねる (tsuraneru, 劉ねる)

Proper noun

劉(りゅう) • (Ryū) 

1. a surname from Chinese
   • (Can we date this quote?), 中華若木詩抄巻之上‎, archived from the original on 12 December 2021, page 3a:

     蜀(しょく)ノ刘(りゅう)備(び)

     Shoku no Ryū Bi

     Liu Bei of Shu

Korean

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

劉

Wikisource

劉 (eumhun 죽일 류 (jugil ryu), South Korea 죽일 유 (jugil yu))

1. Hanja form^? of 류/유 (“to kill”).

Vietnamese

Han character

劉: Hán Nôm readings: Lưu

1. chữ Hán form of Lưu (“a surname from Chinese.”).