猿

Stroke order

猿 (Kangxi radical 94, 犬+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 大竹土口女 (KHGRV), four-corner 4423₂, composition ⿰犭袁)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 716, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20584
• Dae Jaweon: page 1128, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1361, character 15
• Unihan data for U+733F

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷan) : semantic 犭 + phonetic 袁 (OC *ɢʷan).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b/g-woj-n (“monkey”).

Alternatively, the root may be Austroasiatic; compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *swaaʔ (“monkey”) (Schuessler, 2007); compare also Proto-Mon-Khmer *kwaɲ ~ kwaaɲʔ.

猿

1. ape

• 猴 (hóu)

(Jōyō kanji)

1. monkey

• Go-on: おん (on)^{←をん (won, historical)}
• Kan-on: えん (en, Jōyō)^{←ゑん (wen, historical)}
• Kun: さる (saru, 猿, Jōyō)、まし (mashi, 猿)、ましら (mashira, 猿ら)
• Nanori: さ (sa)、さる (saru)、さわ (sawa)

 サル on Japanese Wikipedia

 Monkey on Wikipedia

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

Ultimate derivation possibly borrowed from Ainu サロ (saro, “monkey”, from サㇻ (sar, “a tail”) + オ (o, “to bear, to wear, to carry”)).^[1]

The kanji is from Chinese 猿 (yuán, “ape”). Compare Japanese 猪 (inoshishi, “boar”) from Chinese 猪 (zhū, “pig”) and Japanese 豚 (buta, “pig”) from Chinese 豚 (tún, “suckling pig”).

• (Tokyo) さる (Atamadaka – )^[2][3]
• IPA^(key):

猿(さる) or 猿(サル) • (saru)  (counter 匹)

1. a monkey (primate)
   • 1079, Konkōmyō Saishōōkyō Ongi, page 10 (back):

     猕猴 二字合訓佐流

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. Short for 日本猿 (Nihonzaru, “Japanese macaque”).
3. (loosely) an ape (animal)
   • 1988 July 30 [1984 July 25], Fujiko F. Fujio, “世(せ)界(かい)名(めい)作(さく)童(どう)話(わ)第(だい)３(さん)巻(かん) うらしま太(た)郎(ろう) [World’s Renowned Fairy Tales Book 3: Urashima Tarō]”, in ポストの中の明日 [Post-Mid-Tomorrow] (藤子不二雄少年SF短編集; 2), 10th edition, volume 2 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 117:

     地(ち)球(きゅう)は、サルのわく星(せい)になっていましたとさ。

     Chikyū wa, saru no wakusei ni natte imashita to sa.

     Meanwhile, Earth became the Planet of the Apes.

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

• → Yami: sazo

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE, used phonetically to spell the sound /masi/.

Ultimate derivation unknown.

• (Tokyo) まし (Atamadaka – )^[3]
• IPA^(key):

猿(まし) • (mashi) 

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) a monkey

This form seems to be used less often than mashira below.

Derived from earlier mashi form above. Found in texts from the early 1900s, possibly earlier. Appears to be mashi + the pluralizing and genericizing suffix ら (ra).

• (Tokyo) ましら (Heiban – )^[2][3]
• (Tokyo) ましら (Atamadaka – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

猿(ましら) • (mashira) 

1. (archaic) a monkey

From Middle Chinese 猿 (MC hjwon).

The kan'on pronunciation, so likely a later borrowing.

• IPA^(key):

猿(えん) • (en) ^{←ゑん (wen)?}

1. monkey

• Tsukishima, Hiroshi (1079) Kojisho Ongi Shūsei 12: Konkōmyō Saishōōkyō Ongi (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Kyūko Shoin, published 1979, →ISBN.

From Middle Chinese 猿 (MC hjwon). Recorded as Middle Korean 𫞤/원 (wen) (Yale: wen) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

猿

Wikisource

猿 (eumhun 원숭이 원 (wonsung'i won))

1. hanja form^? of 원 (“ape”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

猿: Hán Nôm readings: viên, vượn, ươi

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

• Nôm: viên, vượn

• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville