牙

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

See images of
Radical 92 牙

牙 (Kangxi radical 92, 牙+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一女木竹 (MVDH), four-corner 1024₀, composition ⿹⿻𠃋丁丿)

1. Kangxi radical #92, ⽛.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №39

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/牙
• 伢, 冴, 呀, 𡉪, 岈, 㤉, 㧎, 𣲨, 犽, 𰀍, 迓, 枒, 𤆹, 玡, 砑, 䄰, 𧘪, 𦕆, 蚜, 𧠖, 𧣐, 訝 (讶), 谺, 釾 (䥺), 颬, 𩨠, 𩶀(𬶅), 齖 (𬹺), 𫰎, 𬦤, 𮐍
• 𠚾, 𠡁, 邪, 雅, 䪵, 鴉 (鸦), 𪖕, 𢗬, 𥁆, 𡵥, 芽, 穿, 䍓, 笌, 厊, 庌, 疨, 閕, 衺, 𮗍, 𭓟, 𭯲

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 695, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19909
• Dae Jaweon: page 1108, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1419, character 8
• Unihan data for U+7259

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 牙
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Etymology

Norman and Mei (1976) propose that this was a substrate loan; cf. Proto-Vietic *ŋaː (“ivory”) (Vietnamese ngà), Proto-Tai *ŋaːᴬ (“tusk; ivory”) (Thai งา (ngaa)). Pulleyblank (1983) disagrees with their hypothesis and considers Old Chinese to be the donor of this Wanderwort instead.

STEDT provisionally sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ŋja (“tusk; tooth”), comparing it to Mizo ngho (“tusk; fang”), Manipuri ꯌꯥ (yaa, “tooth”), Mru (hngou, “tooth”), Pa'o Karen (tə́ʔ ŋà, “tooth”).

Hong Kong Cantonese neologism prefix

From 阿 (aa3).

Pronunciation

Definitions

牙

1. (anatomy) tooth (Classifier: 隻／只 c; 棚 c)

   拔牙  ―  báyá  ―  to take out a tooth

   我牙疼。  ―  Wǒ yá téng.  ―  I have a toothache.

2. (anatomy) ivory; tusk of elephant

   牙雕  ―  yádiāo  ―  ivory sculpture

3. screw thread
4. (literary, obsolete) to bite
5. (obsolete) Alternative form of 衙 (“government office; yamen”)
6. (obsolete) Alternative form of 芽 (yá, “to sprout”)
7. (Hong Kong Cantonese, Internet slang, leetspeak, neologism) Prefix used in front of the surname or last character of someone’s given name to express familiarity or friendliness.
8. (historical) broker

Synonyms

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Proto-Tai: *ŋaːᴬ (“tusk, ivory”)
  • Thai: งา (ngaa)
  • Lao: ງາ (ngā)
  • Lü: ᦇᦱ (ngaa)
  • Shan: ငႃး (ngáa)
  • Ahom: 𑜂𑜠 (ṅa)
• → Proto-Vietic: *ŋaː (“ivory”)
  • Vietnamese: ngà

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. tusk, fang

Readings

• Go-on: げ (ge, Jōyō ^†)
• Kan-on: が (ga, Jōyō)
• Kun: きば (kiba, 牙, Jōyō); き (ki); かび (kabi, 牙); は (ha, 牙)

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

牙(き) • (ki) 

1. (obsolete) fang, tusk, tooth (particularly the canine)
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 9, poem 1809:
     ; text here

     牙(き)喫(かみ)建(たけ)怒(び)而(て)

     kikamitakebite

     ferociously gnashing teeth

Usage notes

Although this term is no longer used in isolation, it does persist in certain compounds.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Compound of Old Japanese elements 牙 (ki, “fang, tusk”) +‎ 歯 (ha, “tooth”). The ha changes to ba as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) き​ば (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

牙(きば) • (kiba) 

1. fang, tusk, tooth (particularly the canines)
2. (falconry) dog (primarily used for counting hunting dogs)

Usage notes

This is the most common term for fang in modern Japanese.

Derived terms

Idioms

See also

• 門(もん)歯(し) (monshi): incisor tooth
• 犬(けん)歯(し) (kenshi): canine tooth
• 小(しょう)臼(きゅう)歯(し) (shōkyūshi): premolar
• 臼(きゅう)歯(し) (kyūshi): molar
• 象(ぞう)牙(げ) (zōge): elephant tusk, ivory

Etymology 3

Cognate with, and probably the noun derivation of, verb 黴びる (kabiru, “to go moldy”), from the root idea of something sprouting. Used in the Kojiki.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

牙(かび) • (kabi) 

1. (obsolete) a plant sprout, a plant bud

Derived terms

• 葦(あし)牙(かび) (ashikabi): a reed sprout or bud

Etymology 4

Non-standard alternative spelling for 歯 (ha, “tooth”).

Etymology 5

From Middle Chinese 牙 (MC ngae). Compare modern Min Nan reading gê.

The goon reading, so probably the reading as first imported into Japanese.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

牙(げ) • (ge) 

1. an animal's fang or tusk
2. an elephant's tusk: ivory
3. a tooth

Usage notes

The tooth meaning is much more commonly expressed using the word 歯 (ha).

Derived terms

Etymology 6

From Middle Chinese 牙 (MC ngae). Compare modern Cantonese reading ngaa⁴.

The kan'on reading, so probably a later importation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

牙(が) • (ga) 

1. an animal's fang or tusk
2. an elephant's tusk: ivory
3. a tooth

Usage notes

The ga reading is only used in compounds, and is never used in isolation.

Derived terms

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 牙 (MC ngae).

Recorded as Middle Korean ᅌᅡᆼ (Yale: nga) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.

Recorded as Middle Korean 아 (a) (Yale: a) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

牙

Wikisource

牙 (eumhun 어금니 아 (eogeumni a))

1. Hanja form^? of 아 (“molar; cheek tooth”).

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

牙: Hán Nôm readings: nha, ngà

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