轉

Translingual

Han character

轉 (Kangxi radical 159, 車+11, 18 strokes, cangjie input 十十十戈戈 (JJJII), four-corner 5504₃, composition ⿰車專)

Derived characters

• 囀(𫝚/啭), 𡤛, 𮁗, 𮎀, 𩧜

Related characters

• 転 (Japanese shinjitai)
• 转 (Simplified Chinese)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1248, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 38507
• Dae Jaweon: page 1726, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3552, character 4
• Unihan data for U+8F49

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 轉
Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Qin slip script	Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tonʔ, *tons) : semantic 車 (“carriage”) + phonetic 專 (OC *tjon).

Etymology

Possibly related to:

• Old Tibetan འདྲུལ ('drul, “to transmit; to communicate”) (Schuessler, 2007), or
• Tibetan སྲུལ (srul, “to move to and fro; to stir”), Burmese ရွေ့ (rwe., “to move; to be displaced”), ရွှေ့ (hrwe., “to move or shift something”) (Starostin).

An allofam is perhaps *don (“round”). Compare Vietnamese tròn (“round; circle; entire; whole”), trọn (“fully; completely; all”), as well as the following Chinese words:

• 團 (OC *doːn, “ball; circle; lump”),
• 摶 (OC *doːn, *doːn, *donʔ, “to roll up into a ball”).

Derivative: 傳 (OC *tons, *don, *dons, “to relay; to pass on; to transfer; relay station; biography; record”).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

轉

1. (transitive) to turn; to revolve
2. to wind; to entwine
3. winding; circuitous
4. (transitive) to change; to shift; to alter

   轉換／转换  ―  zhuǎnhuàn  ―  to change

   轉大人／转大人 [Hokkien]  ―  tńg tāi-jîn [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to become an adult

   轉敗為勝／转败为胜  ―  zhuǎn bài wèi shèng  ―  to turn defeat into victory

5. to change direction; to turn
6. (Southwestern Mandarin, dialectal Cantonese, Hakka, Min, Wu) to return; to come or go back

   轉來／转来 [Shanghainese]  ―  ⁵tsoe-le [Wugniu]  ―  to come back; to return

   轉去／转去 [Shanghainese]  ―  ⁵tsoe-chi [Wugniu]  ―  to go back; to return

7. (Wu) to think; to contemplate; to turn over in one's mind
8. (Xiamen Hokkien) to mediate; to reconcile
9. (dialectal Mandarin, Cantonese) Classifier for times or round trips.
10. to change position; to move
11. to wave; to flutter
12. to divert; to transfer
13. to evade; to avoid
14. to be transferred to another post
15. to sell; to transfer the ownership
16. to transport; to relay; to carry in a cart
17. to discard; to abandon
18. to leave; to depart
19. to chant; to utter (spell); to recite
20. (Mainland China Hokkien) to circulate capital to meet financial need for turnover
21. a surname

Usage notes

The Cantonese reading 'zyun2' bears the meaning "to turn, transfer" whereas the reading 'zyun3' means "to revolve".

Synonyms

• (to change direction):

• (to return):

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

轉

1. (intransitive) to revolve; to rotate; to turn
2. revolution; rotation; turn
3. (Cantonese, dialectal Hakka, dialectal Min, dialectal Wu) hair whorl
4. number of times; time
5. to wind around; to go around; bypass
6. to lose (way); to get lost
7. (colloquial) to stroll; to saunter; to amble; to wander

   • 假日到河灘上轉轉，看見許多孩子在放風箏。 [MSC, trad.]
     假日到河滩上转转，看见许多孩子在放风筝。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 李恆瑞, 風箏暢想曲

     Jiàrì dào hétān shàng zhuànzhuan, kànjiàn xǔduō háizi zài fàng fēngzheng.

     At the holiday, I went strolling on the riverbank where I saw some kids flying kites.

8. Alternative form of 囀／啭 (zhuàn, “to chirp; to warble; to chirrup”)
9. (music) RPM

   78轉黑膠／78转黑胶  ―  78 zhuàn hēijiāo  ―  78 RPM record

Synonyms

Compounds

Pronunciation 3

Definitions

轉

1. (Mandarin, colloquial) Alternative form of 拽 (“to act pretentiously; to show off”)

Compounds

Pronunciation 4

Definitions

轉

1. (Min) to twist with force or with a tool

References

• “Entry #12657”, 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

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 転)

1. (to) shift
2. (to) move
3. (to) turn

Readings

• Go-on: てん (ten)
• Kan-on: てん (ten)
• Kun: ころぶ (korobu, 轉ぶ); ころがす (korogasu, 轉がす); ころがる (korogaru, 轉がる); ころげる (korogeru, 轉げる); めぐる (meguru); まろぶ (marobu, 轉ぶ); うつる (utsuru, 轉る)
• Nanori: うたた (utata)

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 轉 (MC trjwenX|trjwenH). Recorded as Middle Korean 뎐〯 (tyěn) (Yale: tyen) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

轉

Wikisource

轉 (eumhun 구를 전 (gureul jeon))

1. Hanja form^? of 전 (“(to) turn; (to) move”).

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

轉: Hán Nôm readings: chuyển, chuyên, chuyền, chuyến

1. (to) shift
2. (to) move
3. (to) turn

References

• Nom Foundation