緊

Translingual

Han character

緊 (Kangxi radical 120, 糸+8 in Chinese, 糸+9 in Japanese, 14 strokes in Chinese, 15 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 尸水女戈火 (SEVIF), four-corner 7790₃, composition ⿱臤糸)

Derived characters

• 𡁵

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 929, character 8
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 27603
• Dae Jaweon: page 1367, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3410, character 8
• Unihan data for U+7DCA

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kinʔ) : phonetic 臤 (OC *kʰaːn, *kʰriːn, *ɡiːn, *kʰins) + semantic 糸.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Definitions

緊

1. tense; tight; taut; tightly

   褲子太緊了。／裤子太紧了。  ―  Kùzi tài jǐn le.  ―  These pants are too tight.

   把瓶口塞緊。／把瓶口塞紧。  ―  Bǎ píngkǒu sāi jǐn.  ―  Stopper the bottle tightly.

   後車跟得太緊／后车跟得太紧  ―  hòuchē gēn dé tài jǐn  ―  the car behind someone is following someone too closely

2. firm; secure
3. to tighten

   緊一緊腰帶／紧一紧腰带  ―  jǐn yī jǐn yāodài  ―  to tighten the belt a little

4. strict

   她把丈夫的收入管得很緊。 [MSC, trad.]
   她把丈夫的收入管得很紧。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tā bǎ zhàngfū de shōurù guǎn de hěn jǐn.

   She strictly controls expenditure of her husband's income.

5. pressing; urgent
6. short of money; hard up

   最近手頭很緊。／最近手头很紧。  ―  Zuìjìn shǒutóu hěn jǐn.  ―  I'm short of money recently.

7. violent; heavy

   雨下得緊。／雨下得紧。  ―  Yǔ xià de jǐn.  ―  It's raining quite heavily.

8. critical; important
9. (literary or Hokkien, Datian Min, Zhao'an Hakka, Wenzhounese) quick; rapid; quickly

   不緊不慢／不紧不慢  ―  bùjǐnbùmàn  ―  not rushed and not slow; taking one's time

   伊走了真緊。 [Hokkien, trad.]
   伊走了真紧。 [Hokkien, simp.]

   I cháu liáu chin kín. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   He runs really fast.

Synonyms

Compounds

Etymology 2

Possibly from earlier 近處／近处 (gan6-2 cyu3, gan6-2 syu3, “future marker expressing the imminent aspect”) (Kataoka, 2018).

Pronunciation

Definitions

緊

1. (Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, Nanning Pinghua) Grammatical particle used to express progressive aspect (an ongoing activity) which may undergo a change of state. Similar to the -ing form in English.

   我讀緊書。／我读紧书。 [Cantonese]  ―  ngo⁵ duk⁶ gan² syu¹.   ―  I am attending school.

   佢著緊衫。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢着紧衫。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ zoek³ gan² saam¹.

   He/she is putting clothes on.

Synonyms

See also

• (Cantonese) 住 (zyu6)

References

• “緊”, 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–
• “Entry #10785”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

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

Readings

• Go-on: きん (kin, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: きん (kin, Jōyō)
• Kun: ちぢむ (chijimu, 緊む); きびしい (kibishii, 緊しい); きつい (kitsui, 緊い)

Compounds

• 緊急(きんきゅう) (kinkyū)
• 緊縮(きんしゅく) (kinshuku)
• 緊張(きんちょう) (kinchō)
• 緊縛(きんばく) (kinbaku)
• 緊迫(きんぱく) (kinpaku)
• 緊密(きんみつ) (kinmitsu)

Korean

Hanja

緊 (eumhun 굳게 얽힐 긴 (gutge eolkil gin))

1. Hanja form^? of 긴 (“tense, tight, taut”).
2. Hanja form^? of 긴 (“firm, secure”).

Vietnamese

Han character

緊: Hán Nôm readings: khẩn, lẳm

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

References

• Nom Foundation