探

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See also: 深
探 U+63A2, 探
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-63A2
← 採
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 掣 →

Translingual

Han character

探 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 手月金木 (QBCD), four-corner 57094, composition ⿰扌罙)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 438, character 14
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 12276
  • Dae Jaweon: page 788, character 12
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1907, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+63A2

Chinese

trad. 探
simp. # 探
alternative forms 𢲘

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (罙) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
探 *l̥ʰuːm, *l̥ʰuːms
棎 *ɦljom
賝 *l̥ʰum
琛 *l̥ʰum
穼 *srum
深 *hljum, *hljums

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *l̥ʰuːm, *l̥ʰuːms): semantic 扌 (“hand”) + phonetic 𥥍.

Etymology

As the initial of the 罙 phonetic series is uncertain, 探 (tàn) may be related to 深 (shēn) (provided the initial was *nh-) (Schuessler, 2007).

Alternatively, this agrees with Mizo tham (“to feel (especially with the hand)”).

Note also potential similarities to Burmese စမ်း (cam:, “to grope; to test”) (Luce, 1981).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 探
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 透 (6)
Final (韻) 覃 (159)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 他含切
Baxter thom
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/tʰʌm/
Pan
Wuyun 		/tʰəm/
Shao
Rongfen 		/tʰɒm/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/tʰəm/
Li
Rong 		/tʰᴀm/
Wang
Li 		/tʰɒm/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/tʰăm/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		tān
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		taam1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 探
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		tān
Middle
Chinese 		‹ thom ›
Old
Chinese 		/*l̥ˁm/
English put the hand into and test

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 探 探
Reading # 1/2 2/2
No. 11249 11250
Phonetic
component 		罙 罙
Rime
group 		侵 侵
Rime
subdivision 		3 3
Corresponding
MC rime 		探 僋
Old
Chinese 		/*l̥ʰuːm/ /*l̥ʰuːms/

Definitions

探

  1. to reach for; to grope for
  2. to find; to locate
  3. to search; to explore
  4. to inquire
  5. to visit
  6. to scout; to spy
  7. spy
  8. to try
  9. to extend; to stretch out

Compounds

Descendants

  • → Vietnamese: thăm

References

  • 李如龙 , 刘福铸 , 吴华英 , 黄国城 (2019) “探”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 192.

Japanese

Kanji

探

(Sixth grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. look for

Readings

Suffix

探(たん) • (-tan) 

  1. (archaic) spy from (a country)
    • 1947, Ango Sakaguchi, 『二十七歳』
      独(どく)探(たん)のケンギを受(う)けて、大(たい)正(しょう)五(ご)年(ねん)だかに国(こく)外(がい)退(たい)去(きょ)を命(めい)じられたという。
      Doku-tan no kengi o ukete, Taishō go-nen daka ni kokugai taikyo o meijirareta to iu.
      accused of being a German spy and was officially deported in some time around 1916, as the story goes.

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 探 (MC thom). Recorded as Middle Korean 탐 (tham) (Yale: tham) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

探 (eumhun 찾을 탐 (chajeul tam))

  1. hanja form? of 탐 (“search”)

Compounds

References

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

探: Hán Nôm readings: thám, phăm, thăm, thớm, xăm, xom, tham

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