降

Translingual

Han character

降 (Kangxi radical 170, 阜+6 in Chinese, 阜+7 in Japanese, 9 strokes in Chinese in traditional Chinese, 8 strokes in mainland China, 10 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 弓中竹水手 (NLHEQ), four-corner 7725₄, composition ⿰阝夅)

Derived characters

• 𭉓, 𤌅, 𧌰, 𡲣, 𡹷, 𫁫, 𩄐, 𤯲

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1349, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41620
• Dae Jaweon: page 1852, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4126, character 18
• Unihan data for U+964D

• Unihan data for U+FA09

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 降
Shang	Western Zhou
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kruːŋs, *ɡruːŋ) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : semantic 阝 (“hill, wall”) + phonetic 夅 (OC *ɡruːŋ, “to descend”) – descending a hill.

Pronunciation 1

Etymology

Definitions

降

1. to fall; to drop; to descend; to come down

   降落  ―  jiàngluò  ―  to fall; to land

2. (honorific) to visit; to honor with one's presence
3. to bestow; to confer

   • 天降喪亂，饑饉薦臻。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     天降丧乱，饥馑荐臻。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Tiān jiàng sāngluàn, jījǐn jiànzhēn.

     That Heaven sends down death and disorder?
     Famine comes again and again.

4. to reduce; to decrease; to lower

   降價／降价  ―  jiàngjià  ―  to reduce the price

5. (music) flat (♭)

   降A大調／降A大调  ―  jiàngēidàdiào  ―  A-flat major

6. to be born
7. (Hakka) to give birth
8. a surname

Compounds

Descendants

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

降

1. to surrender; to capitulate; to give in

   投降  ―  tóuxiáng  ―  to surrender

2. to subdue; to vanquish

Compounds

Descendants

Japanese

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

Kanji

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. to descend
2. to fall
3. to precipitate
4. to surrender

Readings

• Go-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←こう (kou, historical)}; ごう (gō)^{←ごう (gou, historical)}
• Kan-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←かう (kau, historical)}
• Kun: おりる (oriru, 降りる, Jōyō)^{←おる (oru, 降る, historical)}; おろす (orosu, 降ろす, Jōyō); ふる (furu, 降る, Jōyō); くだす (kudasu, 降す); くだる (kudaru, 降る); ふらす (furasu, 降らす); ふり (furi, 降り)
• Nanori: ふり (furi); ふる (furu)

Compounds

References

Korean

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 降 (MC kaewngH).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

降

Wikisource

降 (eumhun 내릴 강 (naeril gang))

1. Hanja form^? of 강 (“to come down; to descend”).

Compounds

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 降 (MC haewng).

Pronunciation

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

Hanja

降 (eumhun 항복할 항 (hangbokhal hang))

1. Hanja form^? of 항 (“to surrender”).

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

降: Hán Việt readings: giáng, hàng (胡(hồ)江(giang)切(thiết))
降: Nôm readings: hàng, giáng, dán, nháng, giuống

1. chữ Hán form of giáng (“to fall; to descend”).
2. chữ Hán form of hàng (“to surrender”).

Compounds

References