森

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

森 (Kangxi radical 75, 木+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 木木木 (DDD), four-corner 4099₄, composition ⿱木林)

Derived characters

• 𠎊, 𢵳, 𣛧, 潹, 𤏗, 𦼚

Further reading

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 534, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14974
• Dae Jaweon: page 922, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1226, character 2
• Unihan data for U+68EE

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 森
Shang	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script	Small seal script

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : Triplication of 木 (“tree”), to suggest a large number (compare 三) of trees such as one would find in a forest. Compare 林 (*ɡ·rɯm).

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ram (“jungle; forest; country; field”) (STEDT). Schuessler (2007) suggests that it may be an intensive derivation of 林 (*ɡ·rɯm, “forest”), perhaps influenced by parallels in Austroasiatic, such as Old Khmer sarāma, sarāṃ (“a tract of stunted vegetation”), derived from rām (“inundated forest along a watercourse”). Alternatively, Mei (2012) suggests that the prefix *s- has a denominative function.

Pronunciation

Definitions

森

1. full of trees; densely forested
2. in profusion; multitudinous; dense
3. dark; gloomy; cold

   陰森／阴森  ―  yīnsēn  ―  gloomy

4. orderly
5. strict; rigid; rigorous

   森嚴／森严  ―  sēnyán  ―  strict; tight

6. An orthographic borrowing of the Japanese surname 森, Mori
7. (～町):
   1. Mori (a town in Hokkaido prefecture, Japan)
   2. Mori (a town in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan)
8. (Malaysia, Singapore) Short for 森美蘭／森美兰 (Sēnměilán, “Negeri Sembilan”).

Compounds

References

• “森”, 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–

Japanese

Alternative forms

• 杜 (less common; specific to the shrine grove sense)

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. forest, woods
2. objects lined up
3. silent

Readings

• Go-on: しん (shin, Jōyō)^{←しん (sin, historical)←しむ (simu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: しん (shin, Jōyō)^{←しん (sin, historical)←しむ (simu, ancient)}
• Kun: もり (mori, 森, Jōyō)
• Nanori: しげ (shige); しげる (shigeru)

Compounds

Etymology

From Old Japanese, first attested in the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE).

Probably cognate with 盛り (mori, “heap, pile”), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 盛る (moru, “to heap up, to build up into a significant amount”), from the way a forest can look like a heap or mound from a distance.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) もり (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

森(もり) • (mori) 

1. a forest (dense collection of trees)

   Synonym: 森林 (shinrin)

   • 1999 July 22, “トレント [Trent]”, in Vol.4, Konami:

     まだまだ成(せい)長(ちょう)し続(つづ)けている森(もり)の大(たい)木(ぼく)。森(もり)の守(まも)り神(かみ)。

     Madamada seichōshitsuzuketeiru mori no taiboku. Mori no mamori kami.

     A growing forest tree. He is the guardian god of the woods.

2. a shrine grove

Derived terms

Proverbs

• 木(き)を見(み)て森(もり)を見(み)ず (ki o mite mori o mizu, “to not see the wood for the trees”)

See also

• 林(はやし) (hayashi, “a wood”, generally smaller than a mori)

Proper noun

森(もり) • (Mori) 

1. a surname
2. 森町:
   1. Mori (a town in Hokkaido prefecture, Japan)
   2. Mori (a town in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan)

References

Korean

Hanja

森 (eumhun 숲 삼 (sup sam))

1. forest

Vietnamese

Han character

森: Hán Việt readings: sâm, sum
森: Nôm readings: chùm, dâm, dúm, râm, sâm, sum, xum

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

References

• Nom Foundation