戰 (Kangxi radical 62, 戈+12, 16 strokes, cangjie input 口十戈 (RJI), four-corner 6355₀, composition ⿰單戈)

• 𡃹 𡓥 𢥇 𥗜 𧟀 𧂁 𬉢 𭌓 𭬪

• 戦 战

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 414, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 11667
• Dae Jaweon: page 757, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1412, character 12
• Unihan data for U+6230

Historical forms of the character 戰
Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *tjans): phonetic 單 (OC *taːn, *djan, *djanʔ, *djans) + semantic 戈 (“halberd”) – battling with a halberd.

Benedict (1972) thinks it a cognate to Tibetan རལ་གྲི (ral gri, “sword”), Mizo râl (“enemy”), both from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *g-raːl ~ *g-ran ~ *ray (“enemy, quarrel, strife, fight, war, sword”), yet Schuessler (2007) thinks it unlikely that Old Chinese *t- corresponds to Tibeto-Burman *r-.

Instead he proposes that "war, battle" is semantically extended from "tremble, fear" and so 戰 (OC *tjans) is cognate with 憚 (OC *daːns) (ibid.); STEDT in turn derives them both from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *dar ~ d(u/i)r (“tremble, shiver”).

戰

1. to fight a battle; to go to war

   • 知可以戰與不可以戰者勝。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     知可以战与不可以战者胜。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Art of War, circa 5^th century BCE, translated based on Lionel Giles's version

     Zhī kěyǐ zhàn yǔ bùkěyǐ zhàn zhě shèng.

     He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

2. war; battle; fight

   • 《春秋》無義戰。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     《春秋》无义战。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     “Chūnqiū” wú yìzhàn.

     In the Spring and Autumn there was no just war.

   永戰／永战  ―  yǒng zhàn  ―  eternal war

   永戰／永战 [Guangzhou Cantonese]  ―  wing⁵ zin³   ―  eternal war

3. to tremble; to shiver

   • 哀公問社於宰我。宰我對曰：「夏后氏以松，殷人以柏，周人以栗，曰使民戰慄。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     哀公问社于宰我。宰我对曰：「夏后氏以松，殷人以柏，周人以栗，曰使民战栗。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE

     Āigōng wèn shè yú Zǎi Wǒ. Zǎi Wǒ duìyuē: “Xiàhòushì yǐ sōng, yīnrén yǐ bǎi, zhōurén yǐ lì, yuē shǐ mín zhànlì.”

     Duke Ai asked Zai Wo about the altars of the spirits of the land. Zai Wo replied, "The Xia sovereign's clan planted the pine tree about them; the men of the Yin planted the cypress; and the men of the Zhou planted the chestnut tree, meaning thereby to cause the people to tremble in awe."

   • 曰：「羊質而虎皮，見草而說，見豺而戰，忘其皮之虎矣。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     曰：「羊质而虎皮，见草而说，见豺而战，忘其皮之虎矣。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: Yang Xiong, Fa Yan (Exemplary Sayings), 9 CE, translated based on Jeffrey S. Bullock's version

     Yuē: “Yángzhì ér hǔpí, jiàn cǎo ér yuè, jiàn chái ér zhàn, wàng qí pí zhī hǔ yǐ.”

     (Master Yang) said: One who has a sheep's essence and a tiger's skin sees grass and is happy, sees a dhole and shivers; he forgets he is wearing a tiger's skin.

4. a surname, Zhan

• (to fight a battle):

• (war):

• (to tremble):

• (antonym(s) of “war”):

• “戰”, 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–
• 李如龙 , 刘福铸 , 吴华英 , 黄国城 (2019) “战”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 214.

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 戦)

1. fighting, battle

• Go-on: せん (sen)
• Kan-on: せん (sen)
• Kun: いくさ (ikusa, 戰)、たたかい (tatakai, 戰い)^{←たたかひ (tatakafi, 戰ひ, historical)}、たたかう (tatakau, 戰う)^{←たたかふ (tatakafu, 戰ふ, historical)}、おののき (ononoki, 戰き)^{←をののき (wononoki, 戰き, historical)}、おののく (ononoku, 戰く)^{←をののく (wononoku, 戰く, historical)}、そよぎ (soyogi, 戰ぎ)、そよぐ (soyogu, 戰ぐ)、そよがす (soyogasu, 戰がす)、わななく (wananaku, 戰く)

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

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

戰

Wikisource

戰 (eumhun 싸울 전 (ssaul jeon))

1. hanja form^? of 전 (“fight”)

• 전쟁 (戰爭, jeonjaeng, “war”)
• 전술 (戰術, jeonsul, “tactics”)

戰: Hán Việt readings: chiến^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
戰: Nôm readings: chiến^[1][2], chén^[1], chuyến^[2]

1. chữ Hán form of chiến (“war, conflict”).