遠

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

遠 (Kangxi radical 162, 辵+10, 14 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 13 strokes in mainland China and Japanese, cangjie input 卜土口女 (YGRV), four-corner 3430₃, composition ⿺辶袁)

Derived characters

• 薳(䓕), 闧, 𤾮, 𭔚, 𮆡, 𭋜, 𮟧

Related characters

• 远 (Simplified Chinese)

Descendants

• を (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1263, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 39047
• Dae Jaweon: page 1757, character 15
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3869, character 7
• Unihan data for U+9060

Chinese

Glyph origin

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷanʔ, *ɢʷans) : semantic 辵 (“walk”) + phonetic 袁 (OC *ɢʷan).

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-wəj-n (“far”) (STEDT). Cognate with Proto-Lolo-Burmese *wəj² (“far”), whence Burmese ဝေး (we:, “far”).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

遠

1. distant; remote; far

   Antonym: 近 (jìn)

   在不遠的將來／在不远的将来  ―  zài bù yuǎn de jiānglái  ―  in the not too distant future

   我家離大學很遠。 [MSC, trad.]
   我家离大学很远。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ jiā lí dàxué hěn yuǎn.

   My home is far from my university.

2. not intimate; distant

   遠親／远亲  ―  yuǎnqīn  ―  distant relative

3. profound
4. (intensifier in a comparison) much; by far

   兩者差遠了。／两者差远了。  ―  Liǎngzhě chā yuǎn le.  ―  The two are very different.

   論學識我遠不及他。 [MSC, trad.]
   论学识我远不及他。 [MSC, simp.]

   Lùn xuéshí wǒ yuǎn bùjí tā.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 倘要「對證古本」，則《水滸傳》裡的一句「那雪正下得緊」，就是接近現代的大眾語的說法，比「大雪紛飛」多兩個字，但那「神韻」卻好得遠了。 [MSC, trad.]
     倘要「对证古本」，则《水浒传》里的一句「那雪正下得紧」，就是接近现代的大众语的说法，比「大雪纷飞」多两个字，但那「神韵」却好得远了。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1934, Lu Xun, 「大雪紛飛」

     Tǎng yào “duìzhèng gǔběn”, zé “Shuǐhǔzhuàn” lǐ de yī jù “nà xuě zhèng xià de jǐn”, jiùshì jiējìn xiàndài de dàzhòngyǔ de shuōfǎ, bǐ “dàxuě fēnfēi” duō liǎng ge zì, dàn nà “shényùn” què hǎo dé yuǎn le.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Synonyms

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

遠

1. to distance oneself from; to keep at a distance

   • 親賢臣，遠小人，此先漢所以興隆也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     亲贤臣，远小人，此先汉所以兴隆也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 227, 諸葛亮 (Zhūgě Liàng) (Zhuge Liang), 出師表

     Qīn xiánchén, yuǎn xiǎorén, cǐ Xiānhàn suǒyǐ xīnglóng yě.

     By attracting loyal servants and keeping the petty at a distance, the Former Han prospered.

2. a surname

Compounds

References

• “遠”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #10890”, 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

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

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. distant, far
2. temporally long
3. unfriendly, keep away
4. deep, profound
5. estranged
6. Tōtōmi Province

Readings

From Middle Chinese 遠 (MC hjwonX); compare Mandarin 遠／远 (yuǎn):

• Go-on: おん (on, Jōyō ^†)^{←をん (won, historical)}
• Kan-on: えん (en, Jōyō)^{←ゑん (wen, historical)}

From native Japanese roots:

• Kun: とおい (tōi, 遠い, Jōyō)^{←とほい (tofoi, 遠い, historical)}; とおざかる (tōzakaru, 遠ざかる)^{←とほざかる (tofozakaru, 遠ざかる, historical)}; とおざける (tōzakeru, 遠ざける)^{←とほざける (tofozakeru, 遠ざける, historical)}; おち (ochi)^{←をち (woti, historical)}; おと (oto)^{←をと (woto, historical)}
• Nanori: おに (oni)^{←をに (woni, historical)}; ど (do); とお (tō); どお (dō)^{←どほ (dofo, historical)}; とおし (tōshi)^{←とほし (tofosi, historical)}; とおる (tōru)^{←とほる (toforu, historical)}

Compounds

Etymology 1

⟨to₂po⟩ → */təpo/ → /tofo/ → /towo/ → /toː/

From Old Japanese.

Stem of classical adjective 遠し (tōshi), modern 遠い (tōi, “distant, far”).

Prefix

遠(とお) • (tō-) ^{←とほ (tofo)?}

1. distant, far-off

Derived terms

Etymology 2

/woti/ → /wot͡ɕi/ → /ot͡ɕi/

From Old Japanese.

Alternative forms

• 彼方

Pronoun

遠(おち) • (ochi) ^{←をち (woti)?}

1. (archaic) a distant place
2. (archaic) a time far from the present
   1. the distant past
   2. the far-off future

Etymology 3

⟨woto₂⟩ → */wotə/ → /woto/ → /oto/

Shift from Old Japanese ochi, ancient woti (see above).

Alternative forms

• 彼方

Pronoun

遠(おと) • (oto) ^{←をと (woto)?}

1. (archaic) a distant place
2. (archaic) a time far from the present
   1. the distant past
   2. the far-off future

Derived terms

• 一昨日(おとつい) (ototsui), 一昨日(おととい) (ototoi, “day before yesterday”)
• 一昨年(おととし) (ototoshi), 一昨年(おとどし) (otodoshi, “year before last year”)

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 遠 (MC hjwonX, “distant; remote; far”), corresponding to modern Mandarin yuǎn, Cantonese jyun⁵.

As a verb in Chinese compounds like 遠色 (enshoku, “keep aloof from beauty”, kun'yomi iro o tōzaku), from Middle Chinese 遠 (MC hjwonH, “keep at a distance; keep away from”), corresponding to Mandarin yuàn, Cantonese jyun⁶.

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

遠(えん) • (en) ^{←ゑん (wen)?}

1. distant; far; remote (in time or space)
2. distant (in relationship); estranged
3. deep; profound
4. Abbreviation of 遠江国 (Tōtōmi no kuni, “Tōtōmi Province”).

Derived terms

Etymology 5

From Middle Chinese 遠 (MC hjwonX, “distant; remote; far”).

The goon pronunciation, so likely the initial borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

遠(おん) • (on) ^{←をん (won)?}

1. distant; far; remote (in time, space, or relationship)

Derived terms

References

Korean

Hanja

遠 (eumhun 멀 원 (meol won))

1. Hanja form^? of 원 (“distant; far”).

Vietnamese

Han character

遠: Hán Nôm readings: viễn, vẻn, viển, vỏn

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