賢

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 賢. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 賢, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 賢 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 賢 you have here. The definition of the word 賢 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of賢, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: 覧, 覽, 贤, 贒, and 䝨
賢 U+8CE2, 賢
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8CE2
← 賡
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 賣 →

Translingual

Japanese 賢
Simplified 贤
Traditional 賢

Han character

賢 (Kangxi radical 154, 貝+8 in Chinese, 貝+9 in Japanese, 15 strokes in Chinese, 16 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 尸水月山金 (SEBUC), four-corner 77806, composition ⿱臤貝 or ⿱䁂八)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 1209, character 28
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 36822
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1674, character 17
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3646, character 6
  • Unihan data for U+8CE2

Chinese

trad. 賢
simp. 贤
alternative forms 𬥎
贒
臤
䝨
𠤕

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 賢
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (臣) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
臤 *kʰaːn, *kʰriːn, *ɡiːn, *kʰins
掔 *kʰriːn, *kʰiːn
慳 *kʰriːn
藖 *ɡriːn, *ɡriːns
堅 *kiːn
鋻 *kiːn, *kiːns
鰹 *kiːn
蜸 *kʰiːnʔ
菣 *kʰiːns, *kʰins
賢 *ɡiːn
礥 *ɡiːn, *ɢrin
臔 *ɡiːnʔ
挋 *kiŋs
臣 *ɡiŋ
茞 *ɡiŋ
腎 *ɡjinʔ
頣 *hŋiŋʔ
緊 *kinʔ
嚚 *ŋɡriŋ
鏗 *kʰreːŋ
摼 *kʰreːŋ
硻 *kʰreːŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡiːn) : phonetic 臤 (OC *kʰaːn, *kʰriːn, *ɡiːn, *kʰins) + semantic 貝 (“money”) – worthy, valuable (like money)

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Note:
  • hiang5 - Shantou;
  • hiêng5 - Chaozhou.
  • Dialectal data
Variety Location 賢
Mandarin Beijing /ɕian³⁵/
Harbin /ɕian²⁴/
Tianjin /ɕian⁴⁵/
Jinan /ɕiã⁴²/
Qingdao /ɕiã⁴²/
Zhengzhou /ɕian⁴²/
Xi'an /ɕiã²⁴/
Xining /ɕiã²⁴/
Yinchuan /ɕian⁵³/
Lanzhou /ɕiɛ̃n⁵³/
Ürümqi /ɕian⁵¹/
Wuhan /ɕiɛn²¹³/
Chengdu /ɕian³¹/
Guiyang /ɕian²¹/
Kunming /ɕiɛ̃³¹/
Nanjing /ɕien²⁴/
Hefei /ɕiĩ⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /ɕie¹¹/
Pingyao /ɕie̞¹³/
Hohhot /ɕie³¹/
Wu Shanghai /ɦi²³/
Suzhou /ɦiɪ¹³/
Hangzhou /ɦiẽ̞²¹³/
Wenzhou /ji³¹/
Hui Shexian /ɕie⁴⁴/
Tunxi /ɕiɛ⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /ɕiẽ¹³/
Xiangtan /ɕiẽ¹²/
Gan Nanchang /ɕiɛn⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /hian¹¹/
Taoyuan /hien¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /jin²¹/
Nanning /jin²¹/
Hong Kong /jin²¹/
Min Xiamen (Hokkien) /hian³⁵/
Fuzhou (Eastern Min) /hieŋ⁵³/
Jian'ou (Northern Min) /xiŋ²¹/
Shantou (Teochew) /hiaŋ⁵⁵/
Haikou (Hainanese) /hin³¹/
Rime
Character 賢
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 匣 (33)
Final (韻) 先 (85)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) IV
Fanqie 胡田切
Baxter hen
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ɦen/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ɦen/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ɣɛn/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ɦɛn/
Li
Rong 		/ɣen/
Wang
Li 		/ɣien/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ɣien/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		xián
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		jin4
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 賢
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		xián
Middle
Chinese 		‹ hen ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ˁi/
English worthy

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 賢
Reading # 1/1
No. 1337
Phonetic
component 		臣
Rime
group 		眞
Rime
subdivision 		1
Corresponding
MC rime 		賢
Old
Chinese 		/*ɡiːn/

Definitions

賢

  1. virtuous; good; clever; wise; worthy
  2. able; capable

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (賢):
  • → Vietnamese: hiền (賢)

Etymology 2

trad. 賢
simp. 贤

Pronunciation

Definitions

賢

  1. (Hokkien, historical) Alternative form of 𠢕

Japanese

Kanji

賢

(Jōyō kanji)

  1. intelligence
  2. clever
  3. quick-witted
  4. sagacious

Readings

Proper noun

賢(さとる) or 賢(まさる) or 賢(けん) • (Satoru or Masaru or Ken) 

  1. a male given name

Korean

Hanja

賢 (eum 현 (hyeon))

  1. virtuous

Compounds

Vietnamese

Han character

賢: Hán Nôm readings: hiền, hèn

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

Derived terms

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