藥

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See also: 薬 and 药
藥 U+85E5, 藥
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-85E5
← 藤
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 藦 →

Translingual

Traditional 藥
Shinjitai 薬
Simplified 药

Han character

藥 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+15, 21 strokes, cangjie input 廿女戈木 (TVID), four-corner 44904, composition ⿱艹樂)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 1065, character 47
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32341
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3320, character 11
  • Unihan data for U+85E5

Chinese

trad. 藥
simp. 药*
alternative forms 葯／药
薬
𤂼
𣛙

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (樂) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
樂 *ŋraːwɢs, *raːwɢ, *ŋraːwɢ
轢 *raːd, *raːwɢ, *reːwɢ
濼 *pqʰlaːwɢ, *raːwɢ, *reːwɢ, *pqʰloːwɢ, *roːwɢ, *roːwɢ
躒 *raːwɢ, *reːwɢ
擽 *rawɢ, *reːwɢ
爍 *qʰljawɢ
鑠 *qʰljawɢ
藥 *lawɢ
櫟 *lawɢ, *reːwɢ
纅 *lawɢ
礫 *reːwɢ
瓅 *reːwɢ
皪 *reːwɢ
觻 *reːwɢ, *roːwɢ
嚛 *qʰloːwɢ, *qʰloːwɢ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *lawɢ) : semantic 艹 (“grass”) + phonetic 樂 (OC *ŋraːwɢs, *raːwɢ, *ŋraːwɢ).

Etymology 1

According to Schuessler (2007), either:

  • related to Mizo hlo (“a weed, drug, medicine”), or
  • cognate to 療 (OC *rews, “to treat, to cure”), thus beloning to the same word family as 瀹 (OC *lowɢ), 爍 (OC *qʰljawɢ).

Pronunciation

Note: ngok6 - surname.
Note:
  • ieo2 - vernacular;
  • yoh7/yeh7 - literary.
Note:
  • io̍h - vernacular;
  • io̍k/ia̍k - literary.
Note:
  • iêh8 - Chaozhou, Chenghai;
  • iag8 - used in 芍藥.
Rime
Character 藥
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 以 (36)
Final (韻) 藥 (107)
Tone (調) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 以灼切
Baxter yak
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/jɨɐk̚/
Pan
Wuyun 		/jiɐk̚/
Shao
Rongfen 		/iɑk̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/jɨak̚/
Li
Rong 		/iak̚/
Wang
Li 		/jĭak̚/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/i̯ak̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		yuè
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		joek6
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 藥
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		yào
Middle
Chinese 		‹ yak ›
Old
Chinese 		/*m-rwk/
English medicinal plant

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 藥
Reading # 1/1
No. 7680
Phonetic
component 		樂
Rime
group 		藥
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		藥
Old
Chinese 		/*lawɢ/

Definitions

藥

  1. medicine; drug; pharmaceutical
    吃藥／吃药  ―  chīyào  ―  to take medicine; (slang) to take illicit drugs
    同樣的藥為什麼價格相差很多？ [MSC, trad.]
    同样的药为什么价格相差很多？ [MSC, simp.]
    Tóngyàng de yào wèishénme jiàgé xiāngchà hěn duō?
    Why do prices for the same medicine differ so much?
  2. substance used for a particular purpose (e.g. poisoning, fermenting, explosion)
    下藥／下药  ―  xiàyào  ―  to poison
  3. Short for 芍藥／芍药 (sháoyao).
  4. to treat; to cure
  5. to poison
  6. a surname

See also

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (藥):
  • → Japanese: 薬(やく) (yaku)
  • → Korean: 약(藥) (yak)
  • → Vietnamese: dược (藥)

Others:

  • → Kavalan: iyu

Compounds

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Definitions

藥

  1. Only used in 灼藥／灼药 (zhuóshuò).

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

藥

  1. Only used in 勺藥／勺药 (zhuólüè).

Japanese

Shinjitai

薬

Kyūjitai

藥

Kanji

藥

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 薬)

  1. Kyūjitai form of 薬: a medicine, a drug.

Readings

  • Go-on: やく (yaku)
  • Kan-on: やく (yaku)
  • Kun: くすり (kusuri, 藥)

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 藥 (MC yak). Recorded as Middle Korean 약〮 (yák) (Yale: yák) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

藥 (eumhun 약 약 (yak yak))

  1. hanja form? of 약 (“medicine; drug”)

Compounds

Compounds

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

藥: Hán Việt readings: dược
藥: Nôm readings: dược, thuốc

Noun

藥

  1. chữ Hán form of dược (“(education, pharmacy) pharmacy”).

Derived terms

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