英

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

英 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+5, 9 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 8 strokes in simplified Chinese and Japanese, cangjie input 廿中月大 (TLBK), four-corner 4453₀, composition ⿱艹央)

Derived characters

• 偀, 𠸄, 𡎘, 媖, 㡕, 渶, 愥, 暎, 朠, 楧, 煐, 瑛, 䁐, 碤, 䊔, 緓(绬), 蝧, 鍈(锳), 韺, 䭊
• 䣐, 㲟, 䚆, 鶧, 𩤯, 𪃳, 霙, 㢍, 䦫

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1024, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30808
• Dae Jaweon: page 1484, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3192, character 1
• Unihan data for U+82F1

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qraŋ) : semantic 艹 (“grass”) + phonetic 央 (OC *qaŋ).

Etymology 1

Uncertain. There are several possibilities:

• Of Sino-Tibetan origin, related to Mizo ân (“to open the mouth to receive food, to open to”), âng (“to open (mouth), to gape with open mouth”); if so, this word would come from the idea of an open flower (Schuessler, 2007);
• Related to Mizo êng (“light”), ên (“to shine, to give light, bright, brilliant”) (Schuessler, 2007);
• Related to Proto-Bahnaric *ʔaːŋ (“bright”) (from Proto-Mon-Khmer *cʔaiŋ (“light, to shine”)), which may be also/instead related to 影 (OC *qraŋʔ, “shadow”) (Schuessler, 2007);
• Related to 秧 (OC *qaŋ, *qaŋʔ, “rice seedling”) (Sagart, 2011).

Pronunciation

Definitions

英

1. (literary) flower; blossom

   • 彼其之子，美如英。 [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

     Bǐjì zhīzǐ, měi rú yīng.

     That one is as beautiful as a flower.

   • 忽逢桃花林，夾岸數百步，中無雜樹，芳草鮮美，落英繽紛。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     忽逢桃花林，夹岸数百步，中无杂树，芳草鲜美，落英缤纷。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 421, Tao Yuanming, 桃花源記 (The Peach Blossom Spring)

     Hū féng táohuā lín, jiā àn shù bǎi bù, zhōng wú zá shù, fāngcǎo xiānměi, luò yīng bīnfēn.

     Suddenly, he came upon a forest of peach blossoms stretching for several hundred paces along both banks of the waterway. There were no stray trees mixed among them. There was a fresh and pleasing scent of fragrant grass. Fallen peach blossoms were scattered about in abundance.

2. (of a person) outstanding

   英才  ―  yīngcái  ―  person of outstanding ability

   英姿  ―  yīngzī  ―  heroic bearing

3. fine; excellent

   英名  ―  yīngmíng  ―  illustrious name

4. (literary) finest part; quintessence

   含英咀華／含英咀华  ―  hányīngjǔhuá  ―  to savour the merits of a literary work

5. hero; outstanding person

   群英  ―  qúnyīng  ―  ensemble of talents

6. (obsolete) panache on a lance

   • 二矛重英 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

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

     Érmáo chóng yīng

     The two lances' panaches flourished doubly

7. a surname

   英布  ―  Yīng Bù  ―  Ying Bu (warlord and vassal king who lived in the early Han dynasty)

Compounds

Etymology 2

Short form of 英吉利 (Yīngjílì, “England”) or 英格蘭／英格兰 (Yīnggélán, “England”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

英

1. (short form) Britain

   英軍／英军  ―  yīngjūn  ―  British Armed Forces

2. (short form) English language

   中英數／中英数 [Cantonese]  ―  zung¹ jing¹ sou³   ―  Chinese, English and mathematics

   • 2016, Batman Sir, 《90後教師血淚史》, Hong Kong: 小明文創, →ISBN, page 51:

     履歷表中定英？ [Cantonese, trad.]
     履历表中定英？ [Cantonese, simp.]

     lei⁵ lik⁶ biu² zung¹ ding⁶ jing¹?

     Should my CV be Chinese or English?

3. (in compounds) imperial (relating to the British imperial system of measurement)

   英寸  ―  yīngcùn  ―  inch

Compounds

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

英

1. Used in transcription.

Compounds

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

Definitions

英

1. (Hokkien) Alternative form of 塕 (eng, “(of dust, sand, etc.) to rise and permeate; to fill the air or get onto something”)
   • 2022, “目睛有沙”, 李岩修 (lyrics), 徐嘉良 (music)‎performed by 吳木 and 田顏玫:

     我嘸哮　是我目睛英著沙 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
     我呒哮　是我目睛英着沙 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

     góa bô háu, sī góa ba̍k-chiu eng-tio̍h soa [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. English
2. flower, petal
3. hero

Readings

• Go-on: よう (yō)
• Kan-on: えい (ei, Jōyō); え (e)
• Kun: はなぶさ (hanabusa, 英); はな (hana, 英); ひいでる (hīderu, 英でる)
• Nanori: ひで (hide)

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 英 (MC 'jaeng).

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

Pronunciation

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

Proper noun

英(えい) • (Ei) 

1. Short for 英吉利 (Igirisu, “United Kingdom”).

Affix

英(えい) • (ei) 

1. Short for 英吉利 (Igirisu, “United Kingdom”).
2. Short for 英語 (eigo, “English (language)”).
3. outstanding; outstanding person
4. flower; calyx

Derived terms

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 英 (MC 'jaeng).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

英

Wikisource

英 (eumhun 꽃부리 영 (kkotburi yeong))

1. Hanja form^? of 영 (“the UK, Great Britain (in compounds, in news media)”).
2. Hanja form^? of 영 (“petal”).

Compounds

Proper noun

英 • (Yeong) (hangeul 영)

1. (in headlines) Short for 英(영)國(국) (Yeongguk, “the United Kingdom”).

Usage notes

In news headlines, this is often written in the hanja form, even in contemporary Korean text otherwise devoid of any hanja.

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

英: Hán Việt readings: anh
英: Nôm readings: anh, yêng

Noun

英 • (anh)

1. Nôm form of anh (“older brother”).

References

• Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)