間

Stroke order

間 (Kangxi radical 169, 門+4, 12 strokes, cangjie input 日弓日 (ANA), four-corner 7760₇, composition ⿵門日)

• 僴, 𭂠, 墹, 𡢃(㛠), 𡼏, 𢢀(𫺒), 𢵧, 澗(涧), 𣊺, 𬛖, 橺(𱣤), 𭮣, 𤏐(𭴳), 𤩎, 瞷(𬑗), 磵, 𥼴, 𦅘, 𦗬, 𧒄, 襇(裥), 𧢑, 𧬘, 𧯑, 𨅍(𨁴), 𨣉(𬪫), 鐧(锏), 𩻾, 𪙨, 覸, 𩴦, 鷼, 𪪢, 癎, 蕳(𫈉), 簡(简), 鬝, 𪧶
• 㗴 (Exception: Only for Japanese character form which contains ⿰口間. Other regional forms contain ⿰口閒 instead)

• 间 (Simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1333, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41249
• Dae Jaweon: page 1839, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4288, character 6
• Unihan data for U+9593

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

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 門 (“door”) + 日 (“sun”). Originally 閒, moonlight (月) peeking through a door (門) – interstice; space.

The two pronunciations are related, with Pronunciation 2 (間 (OC *kreːns)) being the exoactive of Pronunciation 1 (間 (OC *kreːn)).

Related to:

• 隙 (OC *kʰraɡ, “crack; chink”), 澗 (OC *kreːns, *kraːns, “ravine; brook (between mountains)”) (Wang, 1982);
• 閒 (OC *ɡreːn, “lazy; leisure”) (Karlgren, 1957; Baxter, 1992).

Externally, likely related to Mizo kâr (“space between; interval”), Burmese ကြား (kra:, “in-between; interval; interim”), အကြား (a.kra:, “gap; break”) (Schuessler, 2007).

間

1. within a definite time period or place

   時間／时间  ―  shíjiān  ―  time, period

   晚間／晚间  ―  wǎnjiān  ―  evening, night

   世間／世间  ―  shìjiān  ―  world, earth

   空間／空间  ―  kōngjiān  ―  space

3. among; between

   小鳥們在樹枝間唱歌。 [MSC, trad.]
   小鸟们在树枝间唱歌。 [MSC, simp.]

   Xiǎo niǎo men zài shùzhī jiān chàng gē.

   The birds were singing among the branches of the tree.

   兩個公司間的談判非常成功。 [MSC, trad.]
   两个公司间的谈判非常成功。 [MSC, simp.]

   Liǎng ge gōngsī jiān de tánpàn fēicháng chénggōng.

   The negotiations between the two companies were successful.

   兩點間直線最短。 [MSC, trad.]
   两点间直线最短。 [MSC, simp.]

   Liǎng diǎn jiān zhíxiàn zuì duǎn.

   The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

4. a moment; a little while; instant
5. room; chamber

   房間／房间  ―  fángjiān  ―  room

   衛生間／卫生间  ―  wèishēngjiān  ―  bathroom, toilet

   衣帽間／衣帽间  ―  yīmàojiān  ―  cloakroom

   雙人間／双人间  ―  shuāngrénjiān  ―  double room

6. section of a room; lateral space between two pairs of pillars
7. Classifier for smallest units of housing, such as rooms and shopfronts.

   • 一座城市需要一間女性書店 [MSC, trad.]
     一座城市需要一间女性书店 [MSC, simp.]

     From: ~2020s, sign in 馨巢書屋 (Xinchao Bookstore), Shanghai, translated in 2023 Nov 3, The Bookstore Giving Shanghai’s Women a Room of Their Own, Fan Yiying and Liu Shuhuan, Sixth Tone

     yī zuò chéngshì xūyào yī jiān nǚxìng shūdiàn

     A city needs a women's bookstore

8. (chiefly Cantonese) Classifier for buildings in general, including schools, banks, cinemas, hospitals, shops, factories.
9. a surname

間

1. opening; gap; break
2. estrangement; alienation; hostility
3. spy; secret agent
4. to keep away from; to keep apart
5. to separate; to partition
6. to alternate; to do something alternately
7. to be mixed up with; to be intermingled
8. to sow discord

   • 肉食者謀之，又何間焉？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     肉食者谋之，又何间焉？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Ròushí zhě móu zhī, yòu hé jiàn yān?

     This is the business of meat-eating officials, why meddle with it?

9. to blame; to reproach
10. intermittently; sometimes
11. in secret; clandestinely

間

1. (obsolete) Variant pronunciation of the classifier sense.
2. (obsolete) Used in place names.

• “間”, 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 #9175”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(Second grade kyōiku kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 閒)

• Go-on: けん (ken, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)
• Kun: あいだ (aida, 間, Jōyō)、ま (ma, 間, Jōyō)、あい (ai, 間)、あわい (awai, 間)、はざま (hazama, 間)、うかがう (ukagau, 間う)、しずか (shizuka, 間か)、ひそかに (hisokani, 間かに)
• Nanori: ちか (chika)

• 間性(かんせい) (kansei): intersex
• 人間(にんげん) (ningen)
• 時間(じかん) (jikan)
• 間違(まちが)う (machigau)
• 間違(まちが)える (machigaeru)

From Middle Chinese 間 / 间 (kɛn, “interval”).

• (Tokyo) かん (Atamadaka – )^[1][2]
• IPA^(key):

間(かん) • (kan) 

1. space; interval; among; between
2. extent; scope
3. hidden; invisible
4. Alternative spelling of 閑 (kan, “free time”)

間(かん) • (kan) 

1. interval

間(かん) • (-kan) 

1. suffixes some expressions of time to tell duration rather than time or date

   二(に)時(じ) ― ni-ji ― two (o'clock)

   二(に)時(じ)間(かん) ― ni-jikan ― two hours

   二(に)時(じ)五(ご)分(ふん) ― ni-ji go-fun ― five past two

   五(ご)分(ふん)(間(かん)) ― go-fun (kan) ― five minutes

   二(ふつ)日(か) ― futsuka ― the 2nd (day of the month)

   二(ふつ)日(か)(間(かん)) ― futsuka (kan) ― two days

間 (eumhun 사이 간 (sai gan))

1. hanja form^? of 간 (“between”)

間: Hán Nôm readings: căn, dán, gian, gián, giãn

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

• Nom Foundation