封

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

封 (Kangxi radical 41, 寸+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 土土木戈 (GGDI), four-corner 4410₀, composition ⿰圭寸)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 294, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 7426
• Dae Jaweon: page 581, character 21
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 504, character 14
• Unihan data for U+5C01

Chinese

Glyph origin

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 丰 (“field, ear of grass”) + 寸 (“control”).

In modern form, left component is written instead as 圭 (土土), with two vertical strokes, rather than as 丰 (one vertical stroke).

Etymology

Area etymon (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Tibetan ཕུང་པོ (phung po, “heap”), Tibetan སྤུང (spung, “heap”), Lepcha a-pŭŋ (“a heap; a stock”), Mizo (puŋᴴ), (punᴸ, “increase; assemble”), Mizo vûng (vuuŋᴴ), vûn (vuunᴸ, “swollen”), Mizo vûng (vuuŋᴿ, “heap; mound”), Chepang भुङ्‌हसा (bhuŋh-, “to be burst or peak of activity (flowering, field work etc.)”). Compare also Khmer ពោង (poong, “protuberances/bumps on an animal's head”), Khmer សំពោង (sɑmpoong, “puffed up; swollen”).

邦 (OC *proːŋ, “country”) may be the same etymon (Wang, 1982, Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

Definitions

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Feng (mythology)

Wikipedia

封

1. (literary) border; boundary
2. (literary) to raise a mound
3. to close; to seal; to bind

   封閉／封闭  ―  fēngbì  ―  to close'; to seal off

   冰封  ―  bīngfēng  ―  to be frozen

   把罐子封上  ―  bǎ guànzi fēng shàng  ―  to seal the jar

4. to block (a website, a person on the Internet, etc.); to censor
5. envelope; wrapper

   信封  ―  xìnfēng  ―  envelope; letter

6. cover of a book

   封面  ―  fēngmiàn  ―  cover of a book

7. Classifier for envelopes, letters and mail. ⇒ all nouns using this classifier

   一封信函  ―  yī fēng xìnhán  ―  an envelope

8. to confer (a title) upon; to enfeoff

   • 湯封夏之後，至周封於杞也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     汤封夏之后，至周封于杞也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Tāng fēng Xià zhī hòu, zhì Zhōu fēng yú Qǐ yě.

     Tang enfeoffed the descendants of the Xia dynasty; until the Zhou dynasty's time their fief was at Qi.

9. (literary, of emperors) to build an altar to worship heaven

   封禪／封禅  ―  fēngshàn  ―  to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth

   • 封於泰山，禪於梁父。封禪之王，七十二家。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     封于泰山，禅于梁父。封禅之王，七十二家。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Guanzi, 5^th century BCE to 220 CE

     Fēng yú Tàishān, Shàn yú Liángfǔ. Fēngshàn zhī wáng, qīshí'èr jiā.

     Some seventy-two kings performed the Feng sacrifice on Mount Tai and the Shan sacrifice on Liangfu (translation based on Rickett, 1998)

   • 是以封泰山而禪梁甫，朝諸侯而一天下。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     是以封泰山而禅梁甫，朝诸侯而一天下。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 《大戴禮記》 Records of Ritual Matters by Dai the Elder, Late Western Han

     Shìyǐ fēng Tàishān ér shàn Liángfǔ, cháo zhūhóu ér yī tiānxià.

     So he offered sacrifices to Heaven at Mount Tai and offer sacrifices to Earth at Liangfu; he gathered the various princes and united All under Heaven.

10. Short for 封建主義／封建主义 (fēngjiàn zhǔyì, “feudalism”).
11. a surname

Synonyms

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. to seal, to close

Readings

• Go-on: ふう (fū, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ほう (hō, Jōyō)

Korean

Hanja

封 (eumhun 봉할 봉 (bonghal bong))

1. Hanja form^? of 봉 (“letter, envelope”).

封 (eumhun 묻을 폄 (mudeul pyeom))

1. Hanja form^? of 폄 (“close, hide, seal”).

Vietnamese

Han character

封: Hán Nôm readings: phong

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