危

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

危 (Kangxi radical 26, 卩+4, 6 strokes, cangjie input 弓一尸山 (NMSU), four-corner 2721₂, composition ⿸厃㔾)

Derived characters

• 佹, 𠱓, 垝, 姽, 尯, 峗, 𢂕, 恑, 㧪, 洈, 陒, 㫉, 𣆡, 脆, 桅, 𤙙, 𤥕, 祪, 硊, 䍯, 蛫, 觤, 詭(诡), 跪, 䤥, 鮠(𬶏), 𣢪, 䣀, 㩻, 頠(𬱟), 𡧭, 峞, 𢈌

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 159, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2849
• Dae Jaweon: page 364, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 312, character 3
• Unihan data for U+5371

Chinese

Wikipedia has an article on:

• Roof (Chinese constellation) (English)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 危
Shang	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 厃 (“person on a cliff or mountain”) + 卩 (“kneeling person”).

Written like 𡴲 during the Warring States period, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 人 (“person”) + 山 (“mountain”).

Etymology

Starostin reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋō̆j (~-ō̆l) (“high, rise”) and compares 危 to Burmese ငွား (ngwa:, “be large, great, be high, to project prominently above and beyond others”), Jingpho (ŋoi, “to rise, as a hill”); & possibly Proto-Kiranti *ŋo-.

Schuessler (2007) notes that Chinese and Written Burmese can be reconciled by assuming an ST final *-l; furthermore, 危 (OC *ŋoi) may be a vocalic variant of 巍 (OC *ŋui), which in turn is related to 魏 (OC *ŋuih).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

危

1. dangerous

   危在旦夕  ―  wēizàidànxī  ―  in imminent danger

   居安思危  ―  jū'ānsīwēi  ―  to think of danger in times of safety

2. (literary) precarious; high

   危峰  ―  wēifēng  ―  towering peak

3. dying

   病危  ―  bìngwēi  ―  critically ill

   垂危  ―  chuíwēi  ―  to be critically ill

4. (literary) upright; proper

   正襟危坐  ―  zhèngjīnwēizuò  ―  to sit straight solemnly

5. to endanger; to put in danger

   危及  ―  wēijí  ―  to endanger

6. to fear; to be uneasy

   人人自危  ―  rénrénzìwēi  ―  everyone feels insecure

7. (literary) roof
8. (～宿) (astronomy) the Roof, a Chinese constellation near Aquarius and Pegasus
9. (Internet slang, ACG) Danger! (Used usually alone by one to warn or tell other participants or viewers of a video, video game, etc. that one or several persons or things are in danger and dying for help. Originated from a video game.)
10. a surname

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

References

• “危”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Shinjitai	危
Kyūjitai	危󠄁 危+󠄁? (Adobe-Japan1)
	危󠄄 危+󠄄? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. danger

Readings

• Go-on: ぎ (gi)^{←ぎ (gi, historical)←ぐゐ (gwi, ancient)}
• Kan-on: ぎ (gi)^{←ぎ (gi, historical)←ぐゐ (gwi, ancient)}
• Kan’yō-on: き (ki, Jōyō)
• Kun: あぶない (abunai, 危ない, Jōyō); あやうい (ayaui, 危うい, Jōyō)^{←あやふし (ayafusi, 危ふし, historical)}; あやぶむ (ayabumu, 危ぶむ, Jōyō); あやめる (ayameru, 危める); けわしい (kewashii, 危しい)^{←けはし (kefasi, 危し, historical)}

Compounds

References

Korean

Hanja

危 (eumhun 위태할 위 (witaehal wi))

1. dangerous, precarious
2. high

Vietnamese

Han character

危: Hán Nôm readings: nguy, ngoay, ngoe, nguầy, ngùy/nguỳ

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.