胳

胳 (Kangxi radical 130, 肉+6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 月竹水口 (BHER), four-corner 7726₄, composition ⿰月各)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 980, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29434
• Dae Jaweon: page 1432, character 25
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2070, character 4
• Unihan data for U+80F3

Historical forms of the character 胳
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *klaːɡ) : semantic 肉 (“flesh”) + phonetic 各 (OC *klaːɡ).

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lak ~ *C-jak (“arm; hand; wing”). Sagart (1999) considers it to be a prefixed form of a root *lak, found unprefixed as 亦 (OC *ᵇlak, “armpit”) and with a loosely attached prefix as *ᵃkə-lak, preserved in some southern varieties, such as Cantonese 胳肋底 (gaak3 laak6-1 dai2), Eastern Min 胳腋下 (gó̤k-lŏ̤k-â). In the new reconstruction by Baxter and Sagart (2014), the connection to 亦 (OC *(r)Ak) is still implied (cf. Sagart, 2007), but the comparison to the forms in the southern varieties no longer holds (Hill, 2019). Zhang, Jacques and Lai (2019) compare it with Tibetan ལག (lag, “arm”), Japhug tɯ-jaʁ (“arm”) and suggest that the comparisons are more compatible with an Old Chinese reconstruction such as *klˁak.

Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) reconstructs the Old Chinese minimally as *kâk < *klak and posits an Austroasiatic origin, comparing it to Proto-Monic *knlak (“popliteal space; armpit”), Khmer ក្លៀក (kliək, “armpit”), both from Proto-Mon-Khmer *kʔik ~ *kʔiək ~ *kʔaik (“armpit”).

胳

1. ^⁜ (anatomy) armpit
2. ^⁜ (anatomy) arm

   胳膊  ―  gēbo  ―  arm

   胳臂  ―  gēbei  ―  arm

胳

1. Only used in 胳肢 (gézhi, “to tickle”).

胳

1. Only used in 胳肢窩／胳肢窝 (gāzhiwō).

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. armpit
2. arms

• On (unclassified): かく (kaku)、ぎゃく (gyaku)
• Kun: わき (waki, 胳)