呉

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See also: 吳, 県, and 吴
呉 U+5449, 呉
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5449
← 呈
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 告 →

Translingual

Traditional 吳
Shinjitai 呉
Simplified 吴

Glyph origin

Variant of 吳.

The modern Japanese usage is of reform (shinjitai) nature.

Han character

呉 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 口女弓金 (RVNC), composition ⿳⿺𠃑口一八(GJ) or ⿱⿳口𠃑一八(T))

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 181, character 19
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3365
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): not present, would follow volume 1, page 595, character 8
  • Unihan data for U+5449

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 呉 – see 吳 (“to speak loudly; to shout; big; etc.”).
(This character is a variant form of 吳).

Japanese

Shinjitai

呉

Kyūjitai

吳

Kanji

呉

(Jōyō kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 吳)

  1. China
  2. to give something, to do something for someone

Readings

  • Go-on: ぐ (gu)
  • Kan-on: ご (go, Jōyō)
  • Kun: くれ (kure, 呉)、くれる (kureru, 呉れる)
  • Nanori: くに (kuni)、くれ (kure)

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
呉
ご
Grade: S
kan'on
Alternative spelling
吳 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 吳 (MC ngu), the name of a state. Compare modern Mandarin 吳／吴 (Wú).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

呉(ご) • (Go) 

  1. Japanese reading of the Chinese surname Wu.
  2. the ancient State of Wu
  3. (chiefly compounds) China, Chinese
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
呉
くれ
Grade: S
kun'yomi
Alternative spelling
吳 (kyūjitai)

Likely from the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 暮れる (kureru, “to set (said of the sun or moon), to get dark”), from the way that China lies to the west of Japan, in the direction of the setting sun.[1] This may be related to the famous letter from Prince Shōtoku to Emperor Yang of Sui sent via the Japanese mission to Sui China in 607, wherein we see the first mention of Japan as the Land of the Rising Sun, and a description of China as Land of the Setting Sun:

  • 日出處天子致書日沒處天子無恙云云 / 日出处天子致书日没处天子无恙云云
日出處 / 日出处 (literally “sun + emerge + place”) here refers to Japan, while 日沒處 / 日没处 (literally “sun + sink + place”) refers to China.

In textual Japanese, the term Kure originally referred more specifically to the ancient State of Wu (roughly analogous with the modern Jiangnan region), and later shifted to refer to China as a whole.[1][2]

First cited to the Nihon Shoki of 720.[3]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

呉(くれ) • (Kure) 

  1. (archaic) China, Chinese
    More commonly found in compounds in modern Japanese.
  2. Kure (a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan)
Derived terms
Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ^ “呉”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
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