玉

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order (Chinese)

Stroke order (Japan)

Alternative forms

• 𤣩 (When used as a radical component)

Han character

See images of
Radical 96 玉

玉 (Kangxi radical 96, 玉+0, 5 strokes, cangjie input 一土戈 (MGI), four-corner 1010₃, composition ⿱一圡 or ⿷王丶)

1. Kangxi radical #96, ⽟.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №6

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/玉
• 𠇤, 鿑, 𠰧, 𡊩, 𡛼, 𢫛, 𫞂, 𪸛, 砡, 𥩨, 𬗈, 𧉣, 䞝, 𧿷, 𨋔, 𣔣, 鈺(钰), 𩊇, 𩚽, 𩢤, 𪌞
• 𨚝, 𩿱(𬸃), 𡘇, 宝, 𪰑, 莹, 𬔵, 𧟪, 𦻒, 𩆜, 𮭳, 閠, 㓘, 匤, 国

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 726, character 4
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20821
• Dae Jaweon: page 1135, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1100, character 1
• Unihan data for U+7389

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 玉
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)	Libian (compiled in Qing)	Kangxi Dictionary (compiled in Qing)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Ancient script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts	Clerical script	Ming typeface

The character's shape was historically very similar to 王; a dot was introduced to differentiate the two.

Pictogram (象形) : a picture of a cong (琮), a sort of ritual jade totem.

It is also interpreted as three pieces of jade strung together on a string.

Etymology

STEDT compares it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-lu(ŋ/k) (“stone”), which is also compared to 琭 (OC *roːɡ).

Pronunciation

Definitions

玉

1. jade (originally nephrite, now also including jadeite)

   一塊玉／一块玉 [Cantonese]  ―  jat¹ faai³ juk^6-2   ―  a piece of jade

   玉佩  ―  yùpèi  ―  jaden pendant

   玉石俱焚  ―  yùshíjùfén  ―  the good and the bad perish together (literally, “jade and stone incinerated together”)

   • 彼其之子，美如玉。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Bǐ qí zhī zǐ, měi rú yù.

     That officer,
     Is elegant as a gem.

2. pure; beautiful

   玉容  ―  yùróng  ―  beautiful face (of a woman)

   亭亭玉立  ―  tíngtíngyùlì  ―  slender and graceful (of a woman)

   錦衣玉食／锦衣玉食  ―  jǐnyīyùshí  ―  to live a luxurious life

3. (honorific) your

   玉照  ―  yùzhào  ―  your photograph

4. (Cantonese, borrowing) Alternative form of 肉
   1. Used in 玉冰燒.
5. a surname: Yu

Synonyms

• (jade): (Taiwanese Hokkien) 玉仔

Hyponyms

• (jade): 瓊／琼 (qióng, “precious jade, esp. red jade”)

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Indonesian: giok (via Min Nan)
• → Thai: หยก (yòk)

References

• “玉”, 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–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A02553

Etymology 2

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. gem, jewel
2. beauty, elegance
3. euphemistic term related to an Emperor of Japan
4. euphemistic term related to a partner
5. geisha

Readings

• Go-on: ごく (goku)
• Kan-on: ぎょく (gyoku, Jōyō)
• Kun: たま (tama, 玉, Jōyō)
• Nanori: おく (oku); きよ (kiyo); ひかる (hikaru)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese.

Alternative forms

• 球 (especially preferred in baseball), 珠
• (bullet): 弾
• (gem): 璧

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) たま​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Counter

玉(たま) • (-tama) 

1. counter for ramen and udon for one person

   冷凍(れいとう)うどん1(ひと)玉(たま)

   reitō udon hito-tama

   one bowl of frozen udon

See also

• 枚(まい) (mai): counter for zaru soba
• 杯(はい) (hai): counter for noodles in bowls
• 束(たば) (taba): counter for set of dried noodles

Noun

玉(たま) • (tama) 

1. any spherical or similarly-rounded object:
   1. a ball
   2. a orb
   3. a sphere
   4. a bead of an abacus
   5. lens

      Synonym: レンズ (renzu)

   6. a bullet
   7. an egg, especially of a chicken

      Synonyms: 鶏卵 (keiran); 卵, 玉子 (tamago)

2. a gem, jewel
3. an object of value
4. a female entertainer (geisha, prostitute, etc.)
5. (colloquial) Short for 金玉 (kintama): testicles

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Korean: 다마 (dama)

Prefix

玉(たま) • (tama-) 

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

Derived terms

Proper noun

玉(たま) • (Tama) 

1. a place name
2. a female given name

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 玉 (MC ngjowk).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぎょく (Heiban – ) ​
• (Tokyo) ぎょ​く (Atamadaka – ) (a stock being traded)
• IPA^(key):

Noun

玉(ぎょく) • (gyoku) 

1. a gem, jewel
2. generic name for jadeite or nephrite
3. chicken eggs used as food, especially as a topping for sushi

   Synonym: 鶏卵 (keiran)

4. a stock being traded
5. Short for 建て玉 (tategyoku): This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
6. a geisha

   Synonym: 芸者 (geisha)

7. Short for 玉代 (gyokudai): This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Derived terms

Idioms

• 玉(ぎょく)を吞(の)む (gyoku o nomu)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぎょ​く (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

玉(ぎょく) • (gyoku) 

1. (shogi) king

Derived terms

• 入(にゅう)玉(ぎょく) (nyūgyoku)

References

Korean

Hanja

玉 (eumhun 구슬 옥 (guseul ok))

1. Hanja form^? of 옥 (“jade”). See there for further compounds.

Compounds

• 옥편(玉篇) (Okpyeon, “Yupian”)

Vietnamese

Han character

玉: Hán Nôm readings: ngọc

1. gem; precious stone

Derived terms