鹿

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

See images of
Radical 198 鹿

鹿 (Kangxi radical 198, 鹿+0, 11 strokes, cangjie input 戈難心 (IXP), four-corner 0021₁, composition ⿸⿸广⿻コ⿰丨丨比)

1. Kangxi radical #198, ⿅.

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/鹿
• 𬿚, 𭊛, 塶, 㜙, 𡼂, 㦇, 摝, 漉, 𤡊, 𣊈, 樚, 𣩏, 𪵡, 熝, 𤨞, 膔, 𥛞, 𥉶, 䃙, 𮃨, 䌒, 𦗓, 𦪇, 螰, 𧽥, 蹗, 轆(辘), 𨢷, 鏕, 𩌫, 騼(𫠋), 𩪉, 𩺮, 𪒏, 𪛓
• 鄜, 𢿇, 㼾, 𥀔, 𩔴, 塵, 𭗎, 𦄐, 𧐠, 鏖, 𩞇, 𧜫, 𪩏, 蔍, 䍡, 𦌏, 簏, 𩅄, 廘

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1508, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 47586
• Dae Jaweon: page 2036, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4727, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9E7F

• Unihan data for U+F940

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

• Lĕ̤k (Eastern Min)
• 鹿 (Classical)
• 鹿 (Cantonese)
• 鹿 (Written Standard Chinese^?)

Glyph origin

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

Pictogram (象形) – a deer. Current form is highly abstracted – legs have transformed to 比 – note grouping of front and rear legs, which are bent – head has transformed to middle component (similar to 凸/曲), while antlers on top and extended lip/mouth on left transformed into 广. This transformation occurred during seal characters.

Contrast the very different development of 馬 (“horse”), and the transformation in 廌 (as in 薦), which has the head of 鹿 but the legs of 馬 (灬).

Etymology

Uncertain, though possibly Sino-Tibetan (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Northern Naga *gjuk "deer, sambar", from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *g-rjuk (French, 1983); Also according to French, Benedict relates the Tibeto-Burman item to Western Gurung (gju, “sheep”), yet the Gurung item has an alternative explanation (compare Proto-Sino-Tibetan *luk (“sheep”)). Sagart (1999) relates this to 角 (OC *kroːɡ, “horn”). Baxter & Sagart (2014; 2020) compares this to Langjia Buyang /ma⁰ lɔk⁸/.

Note also Nùng klook (“deer”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

鹿

1. deer (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 頭／头 m)

   • 林有樸樕，野有死鹿。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     林有朴樕，野有死鹿。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Lín yǒu pǔsù, yě yǒu sǐ lù.

     In the forest there are the scrubby oaks; in the wild there is a dead deer.

2. (literary or in compounds, figurative) political power

   鹿死誰手／鹿死谁手  ―  lùsǐshéishǒu  ―  who will gain supremacy?

   • 秦失其鹿，天下共逐之，於是高材疾足者先得焉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     秦失其鹿，天下共逐之，于是高材疾足者先得焉。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Qín shī qí lù, tiānxià gòng zhú zhī, yúshì gāocái jízú zhě xiān dé yān.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. a surname

Synonyms

• (deer):

• (political power): 政權／政权 (zhèngquán)

Compounds

References

• “Entry #8111”, 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

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. deer

Readings

• Go-on: ろく (roku)
• Kan-on: ろく (roku)
• Kun: か (ka, 鹿, Jōyō ^†); しか (shika, 鹿, Jōyō); かせぎ (kasegi, 鹿); かのしし (kanoshishi, 鹿); しし (shishi, 鹿)

Compounds

Etymology 1

/seka/ → /sika/

From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 夫 (se, “male”) +‎ 鹿 (ka, “deer”), in contrast to 女鹿 (meka, “female deer”, archaic).

First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しか (Heiban – )
• (Tokyo) しか​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

鹿(しか) or 鹿(シカ) • (shika)  (counter 匹)

1. deer

   奈(な)良(ら)公(こう)園(えん)には鹿(しか)しかいない。

   Nara kōen ni wa shika shika inai.

   There is nothing but deer in Nara Park.

Usage notes

• As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as シカ.

Idioms

Descendants

• ⇒ English: sika deer

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

鹿(か) • (ka) 

1. (archaic) deer

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese. From the resemblance to a 桛木 (kasegi, “cross-shaped spindle; a branching point in a tree”).

First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

鹿(かせぎ) • (kasegi) 

1. (archaic) deer
   • 1212: Hōjōki

     山鳥(やまどり)のほろと鳴(な)くを聞(き)きても、父(ちち)か母(はは)かと疑(うたが)ひ、峰(みね)のかせぎの近(ちか)くなれたるにつけても、世(よ)に遠(とお)ざかるほどを知(し)る。

     Yamadori no horo to naku o kikite mo, chichi ka haha ka to utagahi, mine no kasegi no chikaku naretaru ni tsukete mo, yo ni tōzakaru hodo oshiru.

     Hearing the horo call of the mountain pheasant, wondering if it were my father or mother , and seeing how the deer on the ridge are so tame that they come close by, all of it shows me how far away I am from the world.

Etymology 4

From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 鹿 (ka, “deer”) +‎ の (possessive particle) +‎ 肉 (shishi, “meat, flesh”).

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かのしし (Heiban – )
• (Tokyo) かのし​し (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

鹿(かのしし) • (kanoshishi) 

1. (archaic) deer
2. deer meat: venison

Etymology 5

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *sisi. Cognate with 肉 (shishi, “meat of a beast”).

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) し​し (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

鹿(しし) • (shishi) 

1. (archaic) a beast (used for its meat, such as a boar or a deer)
2. Short for 猪武者 (inoshishi musha): a reckless warrior
3. Short for 鹿狩り (shishi-gari): a deer hunter
4. (slang) a female attendant at a bathhouse or hot spring
5. (slang, archaic) a female prostitute at a bathhouse or hot spring

Usage notes

• The beast sense is more commonly spelled 獣.

Etymology 6

From Middle Chinese 鹿 (MC luwk). Compare modern Min Nan reading lo̍k.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ろく (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

鹿(ろく) • (roku) 

1. deer
2. venison or wild boar meat

References

• Ichiko, Teiji (1212) Hōjōki (Shintei), Iwanami Shoten, published 1989, →ISBN
• Nishio, Minoru (1957) Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Hōjōki, Tsurezuregusa, Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 鹿 (MC luwk). Recorded as Middle Korean 록〮 (lwók) (Yale: lwok) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

鹿

Wikisource

鹿 (eumhun 사슴 록 (saseum rok), South Korea 사슴 녹 (saseum nok))

1. Hanja form^? of 록/녹 (“deer”).

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

鹿: Hán Nôm readings: lộc, lê

1. chữ Hán form of lộc (“deer”).

Compounds