儉

儉 U+5109, 儉 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5109 ← 儈 CJK Unified Ideographs 儊 →

儉 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+13, 15 strokes, cangjie input 人人一人 (OOMO), four-corner 2828₆, composition ⿰亻僉)

• 𱕚, 𢸟, 𰸶, 𨯘, 𰯥, 𨇓

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 119, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1190
• Dae Jaweon: page 252, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 226, character 6
• Unihan data for U+5109

Historical forms of the character 儉
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Small seal script s05807 Transcribed ancient scripts L35511 L18813 L18814 L18815 L18816 L18817 L18818
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɡramʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 僉 (OC *skʰlam).

儉

1. frugal; thrifty

   節儉／节俭  ―  jiéjiǎn  ―  frugal; thrifty; economical

   勤儉／勤俭  ―  qínjiǎn  ―  hardworking and thrifty

   儉樸／俭朴  ―  jiǎnpǔ  ―  thrifty and simple

   省吃儉用／省吃俭用  ―  shěngchījiǎnyòng  ―  to save on food and daily expenses

   勤工儉學／勤工俭学  ―  qíngōngjiǎnxué  ―  part-time work and part-time study

   • 禮，與其奢也，寧儉；喪，與其易也，寧戚。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     礼，与其奢也，宁俭；丧，与其易也，宁戚。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Lǐ, yǔqí shē yě, nìng jiǎn; sāng, yǔqí yì yě, nìng qī.

     In festive ceremonies, it is better to be sparing than extravagant. In the ceremonies of mourning, it is better that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to observances.

2. ^† modest; moderate; temperate

   • 夫子溫、良、恭、儉、讓以得之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     夫子温、良、恭、俭、让以得之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Fūzǐ wēn, liáng, gōng, jiǎn, ràng yǐ dé zhī.

     Our master is benign, upright, courteous, temperate, and complaisant and thus he gets his information.

   • 恭儉而好禮者宜歌小雅。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     恭俭而好礼者宜歌小雅。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Gōngjiǎn ér hàolǐ zhě yí gē Xiǎoyǎ.

     The courteous and self-restraining, the lovers of the rules of propriety, should sing the Xiao Ya (Minor Odes of the Kingdom).

3. ^† lacking; insufficient
4. ^† poor harvest
5. (Taiwanese Hokkien) to save up; to store up
6. (Teochew, Singapore Hokkien) to save; to economize
7. a surname

• “Entry #10993”, 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., 2025.
• “儉”, 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–

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 倹)

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

• Go-on: げん (gen)
• Kan-on: けん (ken)
• Kun: つましい (tsumashii, 儉しい)、つずまやか (tsuzumayaka, 儉やか)^{←つづまやか (tudumayaka, 儉やか, historical)}

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

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

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

儉

Wikisource

儉 (eumhun 검소하 검 (geomsoha geom))

1. hanja form^? of 검 (“frugal, temperate”)

儉: Hán Nôm readings: kiệm, cợm, hiếm, thiếu

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