辰

Stroke order

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Radical 161 辰

辰 (Kangxi radical 161, 辰+0, 7 strokes, cangjie input 一一一女 (MMMV), four-corner 7123₂, composition ⿸厂⿱二⿰𠄌⿺乀丿(GJK) or ⿸厂⿸⿱二𠄌⿺乀丿(HTV))

1. Kangxi radical #161, ⾠.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/辰
• 侲, 㖘, 娠, 帪, 振, 浱, 𪺼, 陙, 桭, 祳, 脤, 𤱼, 䀼, 𪿟, 裖, 𦁄, 𦓶, 蜄, 𧣨, 誫(𫍨), 賑(赈), 䟴, 𨉎, 𨌑, 鋠(𫓵), 𬴶, 𩷩, 𪘝
• 䣅, 𢦿, 敐, 㰮, 㲀, 𣭽, 䫃, 𪁧, 唇, 𪣗, 𡝌, 𫸚, 𢛚, 㫳, 𬅾, 脣, 蜃, 𪓧, 𧒏, 𫤹, 宸, 𡷰, 莀, 晨, 𤲆, 䆣, 震, 𦻼, 𣊤, 𫘾, 曟, 屒, 𢈫, 𭼏, 麎

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1252, character 15
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 38682
• Dae Jaweon: page 1733, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3606, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8FB0

• Unihan data for U+F971

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

Pictogram (象形) – a kind of agricultural tool used for tilling the fields and removing weeds (Guo, 1931; Qiu, 1992), possibly made of a kind of large clam 蜃 (OC *djɯns, *djɯnʔ, *djins) (Guo, 1931).

Alternatively, it could be a pictogram (象形) of a person holding onto a cliff – original character of 振 (OC *tjɯn, *tjɯns, “to hold up”) (Shang, 1983).

“to vibrate”

Related to 震 (OC *tjɯn, “to shake”) and 振 (OC *tjɯn, *tjɯns, “to excite”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *dar ~ d(u/i)r (“to tremble; to shiver”) (Schuessler, 2007).

“fifth earthly branch”

Norman (1985) suggests that it is from Austroasiatic; compare Proto-Austroasiatic *tlan (“python”), whence Vietnamese trăn, Khmer ថ្លាន់ (thlan), Mon ကၠန် (klɔn). However, Ferlus (2013) points to reconstructions like *dər (Baxter & Sagart) and *ᴸdzɨr (Ferlus) and remarks that those do not match any animal's name in Mainland Southeast Asian (MSEA) languages. Therefore, 辰 might have been associated arbitrarily with the dragon (龍).

Smith (2011) agrees with the proposal (e.g. by Guo, 1931) that 辰 (OC dən) initially depicted an agricultural implement made from clams' shells and was the original form of 蜃 (OC dəns, “mollusc, clam”); so he proposes that the fifth earthly branch depicted the moon's second waning-gibbous phase, which looks like a clam. He also suggests that 辰 (chén) also represented the ovoid-shaped rising sun and is thus related to 晨 (chén, “early morning”).

“time”

From 時 (OC *djɯ, “time”) + nominalizing suffix -n, literally “that which is proceeding” (Schuessler, 2007). This word partially converges with 晨 (OC *djɯn, *ɦljɯn, “morning”) (ibid.).

“heavenly body”

The endopassive of 振 (OC *tjɯn, *tjɯns, “to shake; to stir”), literally “to stir oneself”, i.e. “when life begins to stir” > “heavenly bodies that mark time” (ibid.).

辰

1. ^† to vibrate
2. fifth of twelve earthly branches (地支), variously equated with
   1. (Chinese zodiac) dragon (龍)
   2. (navigation) a bearing of 120° (between ESE and SE)
   3. (Chinese calendar) the 3rd lunar month (三月)
   4. (Chinese calendar) the 5th day or year in a dozen
   5. (Chinese timekeeping) the 2-hour period between 7 and 9 am
3. time; day; season
4. heavenly body; stars
5. ^† (Chinese astronomy) Alternative name for 心宿 (Xīnxiù, “Heart Mansion (one of Twenty-Eight Mansions)”).
6. ^† (Chinese astronomy) Alternative name for 北極星／北极星 (Běijíxīng, “North Star”).
7. ^† Alternative form of 晨 (chén, “early morning”)
8. a surname

• (Chinese earthly branches) 地支 (dìzhī); 子, 丑 (chǒu), 寅 (yín), 卯 (mǎo), 辰 (chén), 巳 (sì), 午 (wǔ), 未 (wèi), 申 (shēn), 酉 (yǒu), 戌, 亥 (hài) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese earthly branches)}

• (Min Nan) “Entry #3410”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

1. the dragon as the fifth sign in the Chinese zodiac

• Go-on: じん (jin)
• Kan-on: しん (shin)
• Kun: たつ (tatsu, 辰)、とき (toki, 辰)
• Nanori: のぶ (nobu)、のぶる (noburu)

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

辰

Wikipedia ^ja

From the verb たつ (tatsu, “to get up, to take off”) (whence also 竜 (tatsu, “dragon”)), from the notion of a dragon flying.

• (Tokyo) たつ (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

• Homophone: 竜

辰(たつ) • (Tatsu) 

1. the Dragon, the fifth of the twelve Earthly Branches

   Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支

   Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

辰(たつ) • (tatsu) 

1. by extension from the zodiac:
   1. the name of the year or day corresponding to the fifth in a cycle of twelve
   2. roughly east-southeast, specifically 30° south of due east (i.e. a bearing of 120°)
   3. the hour of the dragon, specifically 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM; sometimes treated as 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM instead
   4. alternate name for 三月 (sangatsu, “the month of March”)

From Middle Chinese 辰 (dzyin).

辰(しん) • (Shin) 

1. the Dragon, the fifth of the twelve Earthly Branches

   Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支

   Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

From Middle Chinese 辰 (MC dzyin).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

辰

Wikisource

辰 (eumhun 별 진 (byeol jin))
辰 (eumhun 다섯째 지지 진 (daseotjjae jiji jin))

1. hanja form^? of 진 (“name of a star”)
2. hanja form^? of 진 (“the Dragon, the fifth of the twelve Earthly Branches”)

From Middle Chinese 辰 (MC dzyin).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

辰 (eumhun 때 신 (ttae sin))

1. hanja form^? of 신 (“time”)

The semantics of the readings of this Hanja are irregular with the exception of when "진 (辰, jin)" is used to mean "the Dragon, the fifth of the twelve Earthly Branches" or certain historical placenames. The reading may not semantically match its corresponding 음훈 (音訓, eumhun, “reading of the sound and meaning”).

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

辰: Hán Nôm readings: thìn, thần, thì

1. chữ Hán form of Thìn (“fifth of the twelve earthly branches”).

   Hypernyms: 地支, 十二支

   Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥