善

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See also: 譱
善 U+5584, 善
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5584
← 喃
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 喅 →

善 U+2F845, 善
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F845
← 啣
 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 善 →

善 U+2F846, 善
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F846
← 善
 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 喙 →

Translingual

Han character

善 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 廿土廿口 (TGTR) or 廿廿口 (TTR), four-corner 80605, composition ⿻羊⿱䒑口 or ⿳𦍌䒑口)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 197, character 18
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3904
  • Dae Jaweon: page 418, character 38
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 660, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+5584

Chinese

trad. 善
simp. # 善
alternative forms
 
譱
𠲘
𠵊
𠾄
𦎍
譱
𠲘
𠵊
𠾄
𦎍
𦏟
𦏯
𧨅
𧬆
𧮟

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 善
Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Chu slip and silk script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (善) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
橏 *tjenʔ
嫸 *tjenʔ
善 *ɡjenʔ
譱 *ɡjenʔ
蟮 *djanʔ
鱔 *djanʔ
僐 *djenʔ, *djens
鄯 *djenʔ, *djens
墡 *djenʔ
磰 *djenʔ
繕 *ɡjens
膳 *djens
饍 *djens

Originally written 譱 in bronze inscriptions, consisting of two 言 (OC *ŋan) and one 羊. The 言 (OC *ŋan) might have served as the phonetic component, while 羊 represented the sense "good; beautiful". The small seal script of 善 was simplified from the bronze inscription form, consisting of one 言 below one 羊.

According to Shuowen, the form 譱 is an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 誩 (“to wrangle”) + 羊 (“sheep”) – good; virtuous. This interpretation may be difficult to comprehend.

Etymology

Probably related to 繕 (OC *ɡjens, “to mend; to repair”).

Pronunciation

Note: sen5-4 - “to die”.
Note: siêng6 - Chaozhou.
Rime
Character 善
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 常 (25)
Final (韻) 仙 (77)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 常演切
Baxter dzyenX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/d͡ʑiᴇnX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/d͡ʑiɛnX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/d͡ʑjænX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/d͡ʑianX/
Li
Rong 		/ʑiɛnX/
Wang
Li 		/ʑĭɛnX/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/ʑi̯ɛnX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		shàn
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		sin6
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 善
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		shàn
Middle
Chinese 		‹ dzyenX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*eʔ/
English good

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 善
Reading # 1/1
No. 11084
Phonetic
component 		善
Rime
group 		元
Rime
subdivision 		2
Corresponding
MC rime 		善
Old
Chinese 		/*ɡjenʔ/

Definitions

善

  1. good, virtuous, charitable, kind
    Antonym: 惡／恶
    人之初，性本善。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]
    From: Three Character Classic, circa 13th century CE
    Rén zhī chū, xìng běn shàn.
    Men at their birth, are naturally good.
    子曰：「善人為邦百年，亦可以勝殘去殺矣。誠哉是言也！」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
    子曰：「善人为邦百年，亦可以胜残去杀矣。诚哉是言也！」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
    From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE
    Zǐyuē: “Shàn rén wèi bāng bǎinián, yì kěyǐ shèngcánqùshā yǐ. Chéng zāi shì yán yě!”
    The Master said, "'If good men were to govern a country in succession for a hundred years, they would be able to transform the violently bad, and dispense with capital punishments.' True indeed is this saying!"
  2. (Taishanese, euphemistic) to die
    去善 [Taishanese]  ―  hui1 sen5-4   ―  go to hell

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 好 (“good”)
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese 好, 良, 善, 佳
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 好, 良好, 美好, 佳
Mandarin Beijing 好, 強
Taiwan 好
Jinan 好, 賽, 強
Xi'an 好, 嫽
Wuhan 好, 傲
Chengdu 好
Yangzhou 好
Hefei 好, 㜺
Singapore 好
Cantonese Guangzhou 好, 㜺
Hong Kong 好
Taishan 好
Yangjiang 好
Singapore (Guangfu) 好
Gan Nanchang 好
Hakka Meixian 好, 㜺
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 好
Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) 好
Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) 好
Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) 好
Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) 好
Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) 好
Jin Taiyuan 好
Northern Min Jian'ou 好
Eastern Min Fuzhou 好
Southern Min Xiamen 好
Tainan 好
Penang (Hokkien) 好
Singapore (Hokkien) 好
Manila (Hokkien) 好
Chaozhou 好
Singapore (Teochew) 好
Singapore (Hainanese) 好
Zhongshan Min Shaxi (Longdu) 好
Wu Shanghai 好, 㜺, 靈, 嗲
Suzhou 好, 㜺
Wenzhou 好
Xiang Changsha 好
Shuangfeng 好

Compounds

References

Japanese

Kanji

善

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. virtue
  2. goodness

Readings

Etymology

Kanji in this term
善
ぜん
Grade: 6
goon

From Middle Chinese 善 (MC dzyenX).

Pronunciation

Noun

善(ぜん) • (zen) 

  1. good, good deed
    Antonym: 悪 (aku)
    • 1946, 三木清, 親鸞‎, 青空文庫:
      外(そと)においてどれほど善(ぜん)を行(おこ)なおうとしても、悪心(あくしん)は絶(た)えず裏(うら)から潜(ひそ)んでくる。
      Soto ni oite dore hodo zen o okonaō to shite mo, akushin wa taezu ura kara hisonde kuru.
      No matter how much good one tries to do outside, evil thoughts will always come lurking from behind it.

Derived terms

Korean

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

Pronunciation

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

善 (eumhun 착할 선 (chakhal seon))

  1. Hanja form? of 선 (“good, nice”).

Vietnamese

Han character

善: Hán Nôm readings: thiện

  1. chữ Hán form of thiện (“kind, virtue, good”).
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia