探

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 探. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 探, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 探 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 探 you have here. The definition of the word 探 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of探, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
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)”).

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/
Bernard
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

Japanese

Kanji

探

(grade 6 “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

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}}.
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia