言

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

Note that in Japanese and Korean (printed forms), the 亠 component on top is written 二 (as found in the Kangxi dictionary). In traditional/simplified Chinese and Vietnamese, the top component is written 丶. In written Japanese, the top component may be written either 一, 丶 or 丨 (small vertical stroke).

Han character

See images of
Radical 149 言

言 (Kangxi radical 149, 言+0, 7 strokes, cangjie input 卜一一口 (YMMR), four-corner 0060₁, composition ⿳亠𠄠口(GHTV) or ⿱亖口(JK))

1. Kangxi radical #149, ⾔.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №56

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/言
• 信, 唁, 𫭷, 娮, 𡥪, 𢚘, 𣵧, 狺, 𬯂, 這, 𭪐, 𣨌, 𤉘, 𪺞, 琂, 𫀎, 𤯆, 䂴, 𬚝, 𬜇, 𧠻, 𨡄, 𨦼, 䩧, 𬩋, 𪘎
• 䚯, 䚺, 䚿, 𫑟, 𠟸, 悥, 𬾕, 㝘, 䓂, 𣁎, 䇾, 𦎍, 𨧕, 霅, 𥕔, 㢇, 𡹼, 𤶘, 䴦, 獄, 𧗳, 㯎, 辯, 𠥇, 𠥵, 圁, 燮, 夑, 爕, 𣚞, 𤅗

See also

• 訁／讠 (yán) (when used as a left Chinese radical).

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1146, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 35205
• Dae Jaweon: page 1612, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3936, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8A00

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 言
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogram (指事) : 言 was created by adding a mark to 舌 to indicate movement of the tongue. This indicates speech where 舌 is a mouth (口) with a tongue sticking out.

Shuowen erroneously analyzes the glyph as a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声) : phonetic 䇂 () + semantic 口 (“mouth”).

Etymology

According to Schuessler (2007: 74) this word is derived from 語 (OC *ŋaʔ, “to speak”) + -n nominal suffix.

Pronunciation

Definitions

言

1. to say; to speak; to talk

   言語／言语  ―  yányu  ―  to speak; to tell

   三思而後言／三思而后言 [Classical Chinese]  ―  sānsī ér hòu yán   ―  Think before you speak.

2. to discuss; to comment
3. to state; to describe; to explain
4. to write down; to record
5. to ask; to inquire
6. to inform; to tell; to let know
7. spoken language; speech

   語言／语言  ―  yǔyán  ―  language

   諾言／诺言  ―  nuòyán  ―  promise

   發言／发言  ―  fāyán  ―  to make a speech

   謠言／谣言  ―  yáoyán  ―  fabricated rumor

   洋洋萬言／洋洋万言  ―  yángyángwànyán  ―  to be very lengthy (of an article, essay)

   我能留個言嗎？／我能留个言吗？  ―  Wǒ néng liú ge yán ma?  ―  Can I leave a message?

8. opinion; view; perspective
9. words; language appropriate to the occasion
10. proposal; idea; plan
11. government decree; order
12. character; word
13. sentence; writing; works
14. ^† A meaningless sentence-initial mood particle.

    • 陟彼南山，言采其蕨 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

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

      zhì bǐ nán shān, yán cǎi qí jué

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

15. a surname

Synonyms

Compounds

References

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. to say
2. speech

Readings

• Go-on: ごん (gon, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: げん (gen, Jōyō)
• Kun: こと (koto, 言, Jōyō); いう (iu, 言う, Jōyō)^{←いふ (ifu, 言ふ, historical)}; ことば (kotoba, 言)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 言 (MC ngjon, “speech”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) げ​ん (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

言(げん) • (gen) 

1. word
2. (linguistics) parole

Synonyms

• (parole): パロール (parōru)

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "parole"): 言(げん)語(ご) (gengo)

Etymology 2

Cognate with 事 (koto, “thing”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) こと​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

言(こと) • (koto) 

1. word

References

Korean

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 言 (MC ngjon).

Pronunciation

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

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

言

Wikisource

言 (eumhun 말씀 언 (malsseum eon))

1. Hanja form^? of 언 (“word”).
2. Hanja form^? of 언 (“speech”).

Compounds

Etymology 2

Related to Middle Chinese 誾 (MC ngin).

Hanja

言 (eumhun 심사화평할 은 (simsahwapyeonghal eun))

1. (literary Chinese) Hanja form^? of 은 (“peaceful demeanor”).

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.

Okinawan

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. to say
2. speech

Readings

• Kun: くとぅ (kutu, 言), っいゅん ('yun, 言ゅん)

Compounds

Noun

言(くとぅ) (kutu) 

1. word

Vietnamese

Han character

言: Hán Nôm readings: ngôn, ngỏn, ngộn, ngổn, ngồn, ngủn

1. speech
2. word
3. to speak
4. to tell