源

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See also: 厵
源 U+6E90, 源
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6E90
← 溏
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 溑 →

Translingual

Han character

Stroke order
13 strokes

源 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 水一竹火 (EMHF), four-corner 31196, composition ⿰氵原)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 639, character 16
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17926
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1046, character 9
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1697, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+6E90

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 源
2nd round simp. 沅
alternative forms 原
厵
厡

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (原) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
羱 *ŋʷaːn, *ŋʷan
豲 *ɦŋʷaːn
謜 *sŋ̊ʰʷan, *ŋʷan
縓 *sŋ̊ʰʷan, *sŋ̊ʰʷans
原 *ŋʷan
源 *ŋʷan
厵 *ŋʷan
嫄 *ŋʷan
騵 *ŋʷan
榞 *ŋʷan
獂 *ŋʷan
蒝 *ŋʷan
願 *ŋʷans
傆 *ŋʷans
愿 *ŋʷans

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋʷan) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : semantic 水 (“water”) + phonetic 原 (OC *ŋʷan, “origin”).

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Related to 元 (OC *ŋon, “head; principal; first; great”)?”

Pronunciation

Note:
  • nguang5 - Shantou;
  • nguêng5 - Chaozhou.
Rime
Character 源
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 疑 (31)
Final (韻) 元 (66)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Closed
Division (等) III
Fanqie 愚袁切
Baxter ngjwon
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ŋʉɐn/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ŋʷiɐn/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ŋiuɐn/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ŋuan/
Li
Rong 		/ŋiuɐn/
Wang
Li 		/ŋĭwɐn/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/ŋi̯wɐn/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		yuán
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		jyun4
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 源
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		yuán
Middle
Chinese 		‹ ngjwon ›
Old
Chinese 		/*N-ɢʷar/
English spring, source

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 源
Reading # 1/1
No. 16187
Phonetic
component 		原
Rime
group 		元
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		元
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋʷan/
Notes 原之轉註字

Definitions

源

  1. source of a river; headwaters; headspring; fountainhead
  2. source; origin; root
  3. a surname

Synonyms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (源):
  • → Japanese: 源(げん) (gen)
  • → Korean: 원(源) (won)
  • → Vietnamese: nguyên (源)

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

源

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
源
みなもと
Grade: 6
kun’yomi

Derived from 水 (mi, “water”, combining form) +‎ な (na, Old Japanese possessive particle) +‎ 元, 本 (moto, “origin, source”).

Vovin believes that the na in the initial mina- element is not a genitive particle, but rather actually meant "water", contending that the mi was instead the honorific prefix 御 (mi-). See also 港 (minato, “sluice; port”).

Pronunciation

Noun

源(みなもと) • (minamoto) 

  1. a fountainhead (source of a river)
    Synonym: 水源 (suigen)
  2. a source, origin
    Synonyms: 起源 (kigen), 根源 (kongen), 本源 (hongen)

Proper noun

源(みなもと) • (Minamoto) 

  1. a surname, especially those who are descendants of Emperor Saga

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
源
げん
Grade: 6
kan’on

From Middle Chinese 源 (MC ngjwon).

Noun

源(げん) • (gen) 

  1. a source, origin

Affix

源(げん) • (gen) 

  1. fountainhead
  2. source, origin
  3. Short for 源氏 (Genji): Minamoto clan
Derived terms
Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ^ Vovin, Alexander (2012,) Man'yoshu, Book 14: A New English Translation Containing the Original Text, Kana Transliteration, Romanization, Glossing and Commentary, Brill, page 57

Korean

Hanja

源 • (won) (hangeul 원, revised won, McCune–Reischauer wŏn, Yale wen)

  1. a spring
  2. source

Vietnamese

Han character

源: Hán Nôm readings: nguồn, nguyên, ngùn, nguyễn

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

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia