翁

Translingual

Han character

翁 (Kangxi radical 124, 羽+4, 10 strokes, cangjie input 金戈尸一 (CISM), four-corner 8012₇, composition ⿱公羽)

Derived characters

• 傟, 嗡, 塕, 𡟸, 𡻐, 慃, 㨣, 滃, 㺋, 𫕎, 暡, 㮬, 𤌏, 䐥, 瞈, 𥕀, 𬓵, 𧛹, 𢐢, 聬, 螉, 𧷜, 𨉳, 𨎃, 鎓(𬭩), 𦒙, 䩺, 𩡓, 𩥛, 䱵(𮬢)
• 𠃽, 勜, 𨜺, 𪴱, 𦫫, 𩔚, 𦒥, 鶲(鹟), 𡩥, 嵡, 蓊, 䈵, 𩄘, 𩮬, 𤹗

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 955, character 21
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 28635
• Dae Jaweon: page 1401, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3343, character 10
• Unihan data for U+7FC1

Chinese

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• 翁

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qloːŋ) : phonetic 公 (OC *kloːŋ) + semantic 羽 (“wings”). Originally representing the meaning “feathers”, it was later loaned to mean “old man” and similar senses, by association with the semantic 公.

Etymology 1

Possibly Sino-Tibetan. Compare Mizo ung (“to be old, elderly, aged; to be venerable, antique, ancient; to be of long standing, to be an old inhabitant, to be an old stager (v.; adj.)”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Baxter & Sagart (2017) included 翁 (OC *qˤoŋ) "old man" in the same word-family as 公 (OC *C.qˤoŋ) "father, prince" and 妐 (OC *t-qoŋ) "husband's father".

Pronunciation

Definitions

翁

1. elderly man

   • 孤舟蓑笠翁，獨釣寒江雪。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓寒江雪。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: late 8th, early 9th century,《江雪》("River Snow"), by 柳宗元 (Liu Zongyuan).

     Gūzhōu suōlì wēng, dú diào hán jiāng xuě.

     In a lonely boat, an old man, wearing a straw-cape and bamboo-hat, fished alone amid the cold river snow.

2. (literary, or in compounds) father

   • 漢王曰：「吾與項羽俱北面受命懷王，曰『約為兄弟。』吾翁即若翁，必欲烹而翁，則幸分我一桮羹。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     汉王曰：「吾与项羽俱北面受命怀王，曰『约为兄弟。』吾翁即若翁，必欲烹而翁，则幸分我一桮羹。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Hànwáng yuē: “Wú yǔ Xiàng Yǔ jù běimiàn shòumìng Huáiwáng, yuē ‘yuē wéi xiōngdì.’ Wú wēng jí ruò wēng, bì yù pēng ér wēng, zé xìng fēn wǒ yī bēi gēng.”

     The King of Han said: "I and Xiang Yu faced the North, received orders from King Huai, and said: 'We swear a pact of brotherhood'; my father is your father. If you want to boil your father alive, it'll surely be good that you deal out to me a bowl of soup."

   • 王師北定中原日，家祭毋忘告乃翁。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     王师北定中原日，家祭毋忘告乃翁。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1210, 陸游 (Lu You), 示兒

     Wángshī běi dìng zhōngyuán rì, jiājì wú wàng gào nǎi wēng.

     On the day the Song army reconquers the Central Plain in the North, do not forget to inform your father when making offerings to your ancestors.

3. (literary, or in compounds) father of one's husband or wife

   翁婿  ―  wēngxù  ―  father-in-law and son-in-law

   • 寧受責於翁，勿失歡於姑也。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
     宁受责于翁，勿失欢于姑也。 [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1877,《浮生六記》 (Six Records of a Floating Life), by 沈復 (Shen Fu).

     Níng shòu zé yú wēng, wù shī huān yú gū yě.

     I'd rather be chided by father(-in-law), than lose favour with mother(-in-law).

4. (Southern Min) husband

   翁仔某 [Hokkien]  ―  ang-á-bó͘ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  husband and wife

5. (obsolete) the feathers of a bird's neck

   • 翁：頸毛也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     翁：颈毛也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Shuowen Jiezi, circa 2^nd century CE

     Wēng: jǐng máo yě.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

6. a surname

   翁同龢  ―  Wēng Tónghé  ―  Weng Tonghe (Qing dynasty government official)

   翁清海  ―  Wēng Qīnghǎi  ―  Vincent Ng (Singaporean martial artist and former actor)

Synonyms

• (elderly man): (often disrespectful) 老頭／老头 (lǎotóu)
• (father): (formal) 父親／父亲 (fùqīn)
• (husband):

Compounds

Descendants

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Definitions

翁

1. (Cantonese) to contract muscles on one's face, usually causing folds to appear

   翁起個鼻／翁起个鼻 [Cantonese]  ―  jung¹ hei² go³ bei⁶   ―  to move one's nose upwards

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

翁

1. (obsolete) Used in 翁翁.

Further reading

• “Entry #6508”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Shinjitai	翁
Kyūjitai	翁󠄂 翁+󠄂? (Adobe-Japan1)
	翁󠄄 翁+󠄄? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. King
2. old man
3. venerable gentleman

Readings

• Go-on: う (u)
• Kan-on: おう (ō, Jōyō)^{←をう (wou, historical)}
• Kun: おきな (okina, 翁); おな (ona, 翁)

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 翁 (MC 'uwng).

The kan'on pronunciation, so likely a later borrowing.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) お​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Affix

翁(おう) • (ō) ^{←をう (wou)?}

1. old man

Noun

翁(おう) • (ō) ^{←をう (wou)?}

1. old man; venerable gentleman

Suffix

翁(おう) • (-ō) ^{←をう (wou)?}

1. (honorific) venerable; old; father

Pronoun

翁(おう) • (ō) ^{←をう (wou)?}

1. (humble, used by elderly men) I; me

Etymology 2

References

Korean

Hanja

翁 (eum 옹 (ong))

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Vietnamese

Han character

翁: Hán Nôm readings: ông

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