牙

Stroke order

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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

• 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

• 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

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

The pictogram of a pair of elephant tusks. According to Xu Shen, this pictogram was used to indicate human molars but not front teeth/incisors (齒).

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).

牙

1. (anatomy) tooth (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 隻／只 m 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

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

• “牙”, 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–

(Jōyō kanji)

1. tusk, fang

• 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)

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū.^[1]

• IPA^(key):

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

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

Compound of Old Japanese elements 牙 (ki, “fang, tusk”) +‎ 歯 (ha, “tooth”).^[2] The ha changes to ba as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

• (Tokyo) きば (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

牙(きば) • (kiba) 

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

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

• 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

Cognate with, and probably the noun derivation of, verb 黴びる (kabiru, “to go moldy”), from the root idea of something sprouting.^[2] Used in the Kojiki.

• IPA^(key):

牙(かび) • (kabi) 

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

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

Non-standard alternative spelling for 歯 (ha, “tooth”).^[2]

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

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

• IPA^(key):

牙(げ) • (ge) 

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

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

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

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

• IPA^(key):

牙(が) • (ga) 

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

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

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.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

牙

Wikisource

牙 (eumhun 어금니 아 (eogeumni a))

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

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

牙: Hán Nôm readings: nha, ngà

1. chữ Hán form of nha (“tooth”).
2. Nôm form of ngà (“ivory”).