林

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林 U+6797, 林
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6797
← 枖
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 枘 →
林 U+F9F4, 林
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9F4
← 麟
 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs 淋 →

Translingual

Stroke order
8 strokes

Han character

林 (Kangxi radical 75, 木+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 木木 (DD), four-corner 44990, composition ⿰木木)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 516, character 5
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14551
  • Dae Jaweon: page 903, character 19
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1164, character 7
  • Unihan data for U+6797

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 林

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 林
Shang Western Zhou Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (林) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
婪 *ɡ·ruːm
惏 *ɡ·ruːm
啉 *ɡ·ruːm
漤 *ɡ·ruːmʔ
醂 *ɡ·ruːmʔ
林 *ɡ·rɯm
琳 *ɡ·rɯm
淋 *ɡ·rɯm, *ɡ·rɯms
痳 *ɡ·rɯm
箖 *ɡ·rɯm
霖 *ɡ·rɯm
菻 *ɡ·rɯmʔ, *ɡ·rɯms
罧 *slɯmʔ, *srɯms
棽 *r̥ʰɯm, *srɯm
綝 *r̥ʰɯm
郴 *r̥ʰɯm
禁 *krɯm, *krɯms
襟 *krɯm
僸 *krɯms, *ŋɡrɯmʔ
澿 *ɡrɯm
噤 *ɡrɯmʔ, *ɡrɯms
凚 *ɡrɯmʔ, *ɡrɯms
齽 *ɡrɯms

Duplication of 木 (“tree”) to give the idea of multiple trees (compare 森), thus a forest. See also the top component of 散 in its original version.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ram (“jungle; forest; country; field”) (STEDT). Cognate with 森 (OC *srɯm, “forest”), Mizo ram (“forest; country”), Karbi ram (“jungle”).

Or perhaps an area word (Schuessler, 2007), shared with Khmer រាម (riəm, “thick bushy jungle that grows along a stream”), Old Khmer *rām (“inundated forest along a watercourse”), Old Khmer sarāma ~ sarāṃ (“a tract of stunted vegetation”), Mon ရာံ (rèm, “copse; patch of woodland”).

Pronunciation

Note: lim3 - including surname.
Note:
  • Sixian:
    • lìm - incl. surname;
    • nà - alternative reading for "woods" sense, used in some compounds;.
  • Hailu:
    • lim - incl. surname;
    • na - alternative reading for "woods" sense, used in some compounds;.
  • Changting;
    • deng2 - vernacular, incl. surname;
    • leng2 - literary.
Note:
  • ne2, ni2 - vernacular (surname);
  • nor2 - vernacular (樹林);
  • ling2 - literary (森林, 林業).
Note:
  • nâ - vernacular;
  • lîm/lêm - literary (including surname).
Note:
  • nan5 - vernacular;
  • lim5 - literary (including surname).
  • Dialectal data
Variety Location 林
Mandarin Beijing /lin³⁵/
Harbin /lin²⁴/
Tianjin /lin⁴⁵/
Jinan /liẽ⁴²/
Qingdao /liə̃⁴²/
Zhengzhou /lin⁴²/
Xi'an /liẽ²⁴/
Xining /liə̃²⁴/
Yinchuan /liŋ⁵³/
Lanzhou /lĩn⁵³/
Ürümqi /liŋ⁵¹/
Wuhan /nin²¹³/
Chengdu /nin³¹/
Guiyang /nin²¹/
Kunming /lĩ¹/
Nanjing /lin²⁴/
Hefei /lin⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /liəŋ¹¹/
Pingyao /liŋ¹³/
Hohhot /lĩŋ³¹/
Wu Shanghai /liŋ²³/
Suzhou /lin¹³/
Hangzhou /lin²¹³/
Wenzhou /leŋ³¹/
Hui Shexian /liʌ̃⁴⁴/
Tunxi /lin⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /lin¹³/
Xiangtan /nin¹²/
Gan Nanchang /lin⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /lim¹¹/
Taoyuan /lim¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /lɐm²¹/
Nanning /lɐm²¹/
Hong Kong /lɐm²¹/
Min Xiamen (Hokkien) /lim³⁵/
/na³⁵/
Fuzhou (Eastern Min) /liŋ⁵³/
Jian'ou (Northern Min) /leiŋ³³/
/laŋ³³/
Shantou (Teochew) /lim⁵⁵/
/nã⁵⁵/
Haikou (Hainanese) /lim³¹/
Rime
Character 林
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 來 (37)
Final (韻) 侵 (139)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 力尋切
Baxter lim
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/liɪm/
Pan
Wuyun 		/lim/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ljem/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/lim/
Li
Rong 		/liəm/
Wang
Li 		/lĭĕm/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/li̯əm/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		lín
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		lam4
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 林
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		lín
Middle
Chinese 		‹ lim ›
Old
Chinese 		/*əm/
English forest

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 林
Reading # 1/1
No. 8165
Phonetic
component 		林
Rime
group 		侵
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		林
Old
Chinese 		/*ɡ·rɯm/

Definitions

林

  1. forest; grove; woods
    竹林  ―  zhúlín  ―  bamboo forest
    防風林／防风林  ―  fángfēnglín  ―  windbreak; shelterbelt
  2. circle; community; group of similar people or things
    武林  ―  wǔlín  ―  martial arts world
  3. forestry
  4. a surname, commonly romanized as Lin, Lim, and Lam
    林默娘  ―  Lín Mòniáng  ―  Lin Moniang (a Chinese sea goddess also known by several other names and titles)
    林彪  ―  Lín Biāo  ―  Lin Biao (a Marshal of the People's Republic of China)

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (林):
  • → Japanese: 林(りん) (rin)
  • → Korean: 림(林) (rim), 임(林) (im)
  • → Vietnamese: lâm (林)

Others:

Further reading

Japanese

Kanji

林

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
林
はやし
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. First mentioned in the Man'yōshū, completed in 759 CE.[1]

Derives from the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of verb 生やす (hayasu, “to grow”).[1] The root verb is in the transitive form, suggesting that the original sense of hayashi may have indicated a deliberately planted or managed grove.

Pronunciation

Noun

林(はやし) • (hayashi) 

  1. a grove, woods, copse
  2. (figurative) a forest of something
Derived terms
Derived terms
See also

Proper noun

林(はやし) • (Hayashi) 

  1. a surname
  2. a female given name

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
林
りん
Grade: 1
on'yomi

/rimʉ/ → /riɴ/

From Middle Chinese 林 (MC lim).

Affix

林(りん) • (rin) 

  1. grove, forest, woods, copse
  2. gathering
  3. lined up
Derived terms
Derived terms

Proper noun

林(りん) • (Rin) 

  1. a surname
  2. (rare) a female given name
Usage notes

As a surname, this reading is more often used by people of Chinese ancestry, since it is similar to the Mandarin Chinese reading of Lín.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 林 (MC lim). Recorded as Middle Korean 림 (lim) (Yale: lim) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

林 (eumhun 수풀 림 (supul rim), word-initial (South Korea) 수풀 임 (supul im))

  1. hanja form? of ] (“forest”)

Compounds

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

林: Hán Nôm readings: lâm, Lâm

  1. forest
  2. gathering
  3. dense
  4. Chữ Hán form of Lâm (“a surname from Chinese.”).

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia