劍

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See also: 剑
劍 U+528D, 劍
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-528D
← 劌
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 劎 →

Translingual

Traditional 劍
Shinjitai 剣
Simplified 剑

Han character

劍 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+13, 15 strokes, cangjie input 人人中弓 (OOLN), four-corner 82800, composition ⿰僉刂)

Derived characters

Descendants

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 144, character 45
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2228
  • Dae Jaweon: page 326, character 4
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 358, character 10
  • Unihan data for U+528D

Chinese

trad. 劍
simp. 剑
alternative forms
劎
劒
劔
𠠆
鐱／𲈀
劎
劒
劔
𠠆
鐱／𲈀
釼
剣
𠝏
剱
 
Wikipedia has articles on:
  • 劍 (Written Standard Chinese?)
  • Jian (English)
劍: A Jian with 鞘 (qiào, “scabbard”).

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 劍
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (僉) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
厱 *raːm, *kʰreːm, *kʰlam
歛 *qʰlaːm
臉 *ɡ·reːmʔ, *skʰlam, *kramʔ
醶 *ɡr·reːmʔ, *skʰraːmʔ
鹼 *kreːmʔ, *skʰlam
薟 *ɡ·ram, *ɡ·ramʔ, *qʰram
匳 *ɡ·ram
獫 *ɡ·ram, *ɡ·ramʔ, *ɡ·rams, *qʰramʔ
蘞 *ɡ·ram, *ɡ·ramʔ, *qʰlam
籢 *ɡ·ram
斂 *ɡ·ramʔ, *ɡ·rams
瀲 *ɡ·ramʔ, *ɡ·rams
撿 *ɡ·ramʔ, *kramʔ
羷 *ɡ·ramʔ
殮 *ɡ·rams
簽 *skʰlam
僉 *skʰlam
憸 *skʰlam, *skʰlamʔ, *sqʰlam, *qʰramʔ
譣 *skʰlam, *qʰramʔ
檢 *kramʔ
瞼 *kramʔ
儉 *ɡramʔ
顩 *ŋramʔ, *rlɯmʔ, *kʰrɯmʔ
嬐 *ŋramʔ
嶮 *ŋramʔ, *hŋramʔ
噞 *ŋramʔ, *ŋrams
驗 *ŋrams
險 *qʰramʔ
劒 *kams
劍 *kams
𩏩 *qʰam

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *kams) : phonetic 僉 (OC *skʰlam) + semantic 刂.

Etymology

Schuessler (2007) proposes a possible native origin, from *k-nominalized adjective 剡 (OC *ɦljamʔ, *lamʔ), which is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-rjam (“sharp”) and lost its *r- initial due to folk etymology; doublets 磏 (OC *r(i)am, “whetstone”) and 鐮 (OC *ɡ·rem, “sickle”) retain *r-.

Alternatively, the double-edged sword seemingly originated from the southern state of Wu (吳); so a native Wu term, of unknown linguistic affiliation, might have yielded both Old Chinese 劍 (OC *kams) and Proto-Vietic *t-kɨəm ( > Vietnamese gươm).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 劍
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 見 (28)
Final (韻) 嚴 (145)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 居欠切
Baxter kjaemH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/kɨɐmH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/kiɐmH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/kiɐmH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/kɨamH/
Li
Rong 		/kiɐmH/
Wang
Li 		/kĭɐmH/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ki̯ɐmH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		jiàn
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		gim3
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 劍
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		jiàn
Middle
Chinese 		‹ kjæmH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*s.krm-s/
English sword

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 劍
Reading # 1/1
No. 10227
Phonetic
component 		僉
Rime
group 		談
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		劔
Old
Chinese 		/*kams/
Notes 原列梵韻作劒，
此本說文籀文，
集韻驗韻或體

Definitions

劍

  1. sword (bladed on both sides); sabre (Classifier: 口; 把)
  2. Classifier for swings of a sword.
  3. † (alt. form 挟) to hold beneath the arm
  4. a surname

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (劍):
  • → Japanese: 剣(けん) (ken)
  • → Korean: 검(劍) (geom)
  • → Vietnamese: kiếm (劍)

See also

Japanese

Shinjitai

剣

Kyūjitai

劍

Kanji

劍

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 剣)

  1. Kyūjitai form of 剣: double-edged sword; swordsmanship

Readings

Korean

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 劍 (MC kjaemH).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 검〮 (Yale: kém)
Middle Korean
Text Eumhun
Gloss (hun) Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527 환도 (Yale: hwantwo) 검〯 (Yale: kěm)

Pronunciation

  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key):
  • Phonetic hangul:
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

劍 (eumhun 칼 검 (kal geom))

  1. hanja form? of 검 (“sword; knife”)

Compounds

Compounds

References

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

劍: Hán Nôm readings: kiếm, ghém, gươm, kém, chém, sớm

  1. sword

Compounds

Usage notes

  • Chữ Nôm. The modern Vietnamese word for sword is kiếm.

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia