衛

See also: 衞 and 卫

衛	U+885B, 衛 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-885B

← 衚

CJK Unified Ideographs

衜 →

Translingual

Han character

衛 (Kangxi radical 144, 行+9 in Chinese, 行+10 in Japanese, 15 strokes in Chinese, 16 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 竹人木手弓 (HODQN), four-corner 2122₁ or 2150₆, composition ⿴行韋 or ⿲彳韋亍)

Derived characters

𡓎, 𭺎, 𬣔, 𧾦, 𧁮, 㦣, 𱥊, 讆, 躗, 𢖨, 𢆈, 䘙

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 1109, character 29
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34073
Dae Jaweon: page 1574, character 11
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 845, character 4
Unihan data for U+885B

Chinese

trad.		衛/衞
simp.		卫
alternative forms		䘙𠀄

Glyph origin

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɢʷads) : semantic 行 + phonetic 韋 (OC *ɢʷɯl).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): wèi (wei⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄨㄟˋ
Cantonese
(Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): wai⁶

(Taishan, Wiktionary): vi⁵
Gan (Wiktionary): ui⁵
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): vi

(Meixian, Guangdong): vi⁴
Northern Min (KCR): ṳ̄
Eastern Min (BUC): uôi
Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): e⁵
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): ōe / ūi

(Teochew, Peng'im): uê⁶
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶we

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: wèi
  - Zhuyin: ㄨㄟˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: wèi
  - Wade–Giles: wei⁴
  - Yale: wèi
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wey
  - Palladius: вэй (vɛj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /weɪ̯⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: wai⁶
  - Yale: waih
  - Cantonese Pinyin: wai⁶
  - Guangdong Romanization: wei⁶
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɐi̯²²/
- (Taishanese, Taicheng)
  - Wiktionary: vi⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /vi³²/
Gan
- (Nanchang)
  - Wiktionary: ui⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ui¹¹/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: vi
  - Hakka Romanization System: vi
  - Hagfa Pinyim: vi⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /vi⁵⁵/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: vi⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /ʋi⁵³/
Northern Min
- (Jian'ou)
  - Kienning Colloquial Romanized: ṳ̄
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /y⁵⁵/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: uôi
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ui²⁴²/
Puxian Min
- (Putian, Xianyou)
  - Pouseng Ping'ing: e⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /e²¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ōe
  - Tâi-lô: uē
  - Phofsit Daibuun: oe
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /ue⁴¹/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /ue²²/
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /ue³³/
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ūi
  - Tâi-lô: uī
  - Phofsit Daibuun: ui
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /ui³³/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: uê⁶
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: uĕ
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ue³⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁶we
  - MiniDict: we^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³hhue
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɦue²³/

Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 衛
Mandarin	Beijing	/uei⁵¹/
	Harbin	/uei²¹³/
	Tianjin	/vei⁵³/
	Jinan	/vei²¹/
	Qingdao	/ve⁴²/
	Zhengzhou	/uei³¹²/
	Xi'an	/uei⁴⁴/
	Xining	/uɨ²¹³/
	Yinchuan	/vei⁵³/ 保～ /vei¹³/ ～生
	Lanzhou	/vei³¹/
	Ürümqi	/vei²¹³/
	Wuhan	/uei³⁵/
	Chengdu	/uei¹³/
	Guiyang	/uei²¹³/
	Kunming	/uei²¹²/
	Nanjing	/uəi⁴⁴/
	Hefei	/ue⁵³/
Jin	Taiyuan	/vei⁴⁵/
	Pingyao	/uei³⁵/
	Hohhot	/vei⁵⁵/
Wu	Shanghai	/ɦue²³/
	Suzhou	/ɦue̞³¹/
	Hangzhou	/ɦui¹³/
	Wenzhou	/vu²²/
Hui	Shexian	/ue²²/
Hui	Tunxi	/ue¹¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/uei⁵⁵/ /uei¹¹/
Xiang	Xiangtan	/uəi⁵⁵/
Gan	Nanchang	/ui²¹/
Hakka	Meixian	/vi⁵³/
Hakka	Taoyuan	/vui⁵⁵/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/wɐi²²/
	Nanning	/wɐi²²/
	Hong Kong	/wɐi²²/
Min	Xiamen (Hokkien)	/ue²²/
	Fuzhou (Eastern Min)	/uɔi²⁴²/
	Jian'ou (Northern Min)	/y⁴⁴/
	Shantou (Teochew)	/ue³⁵/
	Haikou (Hainanese)	/hui³⁵/

Middle Chinese: hjwejH

Rime
Character	衛
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	云 (35)
Final (韻)	祭 (38)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	于歲切
Baxter	hjwejH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦˠiuᴇi^H/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦʷᵚiei^H/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣiuæi^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦjwiaj^H/
Li Rong	/ɣjuɛi^H/
Wang Li	/ɣĭwɛi^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/i̯wɛi^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	wèi
Expected Cantonese Reflex	wai⁶

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*ʷ(r)a-s/

(Zhengzhang): /*ɢʷads/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	衛
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	wèi
Middle Chinese	‹ hjwej^H ›
Old Chinese	/*ʷ(r)a-s/
English	to guard
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	衛
Reading #	1/1
No.	12964
Phonetic component	衛
Rime group	祭
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	衞
Old Chinese	/*ɢʷads/
Notes	金文象四圍巡衛，與韋有異

Definitions

衛

to guard; to protect; to defend
security guard
(～國) the State of Wey during the Zhou dynasty, located in modern-day northeastern Henan province
Short for 衛生／卫生 (wèishēng, “hygiene; health”).
Short for 衛生間／卫生间 (wèishēngjiān, “toilet; bathroom”).
(astronomy) satellite (in satellite names)
土衛六／土卫六 ― Tǔwèiliù ― Titan
a surname
衛立煌／卫立煌 ― Wèi Lìhuáng ― Wei Lihuang (Chinese general who served the Nationalist government)