鄉

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See also: 鄕, 乡, 郷, and 卿
鄉 U+9109, 鄉
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9109
← 鄈
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 鄊 →

Translingual

Traditional 鄉
Simplified 乡
Japanese 郷
Korean 鄕

Han character

鄉 (Kangxi radical 163, 邑+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 女竹戈戈中 (VHIIL), four-corner 27727, composition ⿰乡郎)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 1275, character 2
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 39498
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1775, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3786, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+9109

Chinese

trad. 鄉/鄕
simp. 乡
alternative forms 郷
鄊
𨞰 ancient
𭅼

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 鄉
Shang Western Zhou Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (鄉) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
曏 *qʰjaŋʔ, *qʰjaŋs, *qʰaŋʔ, *qʰaŋs
鄉 *qʰaŋ
薌 *qʰaŋ
膷 *qʰaŋ
響 *qʰaŋʔ
饗 *qʰaŋʔ
蠁 *qʰaŋʔ, *qʰaŋs
嚮 *qʰaŋʔ, *qʰaŋs
卿 *kʰraŋ

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 𠨍 (“two people facing each other”) + 皀 (“a round-mouthed food vessel”) – to feast; the original script of 饗 (OC *qʰaŋʔ). The sense "village" was a result of phonetic borrowing or semantic shifting.

In early writing, the character was virtually indistinguishable from 卿 (OC *kʰraŋ). Semantically, 卿 (OC *kʰraŋ, “elder; leader”) and 鄉 (OC *qʰaŋ, “community; district; village”), likely cognates too, were both represented by the event depicted in the ideogram – 饗 (OC *qʰaŋʔ, “ritual feasting”), which was central to the community life (Yang, 1965).

The right half is unrelated to 郎, as 良 in 鄉 was derived from 皀 during the formation of the clerical script.

Pronunciation 1

Note:
  • hiuⁿ/hioⁿ - vernacular;
  • hiong/hiang - literary.
Note:
  • hion1/hiên1 - vernacular (hiên1 - Chaozhou);
  • hiang1 - literary.
Rime
Character 鄉
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 曉 (32)
Final (韻) 陽 (105)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 許良切
Baxter xjang
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/hɨɐŋ/
Pan
Wuyun 		/hiɐŋ/
Shao
Rongfen 		/xiɑŋ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/hɨaŋ/
Li
Rong 		/xiaŋ/
Wang
Li 		/xĭaŋ/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/xi̯aŋ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		xiāng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		hoeng1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 鄉
Reading # 1/3
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		xiāng
Middle
Chinese 		‹ xjang ›
Old
Chinese 		/*qʰaŋ/
English village; district

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 鄉
Reading # 1/1
No. 13596
Phonetic
component 		鄉
Rime
group 		陽
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		香
Old
Chinese 		/*qʰaŋ/
Notes 甲金文象兩人對食，
爲饗初文

Definitions

鄉

  1. township
  2. countryside; country; rural area
    鄉村／乡村  ―  xiāngcūn  ―  village
    城鄉／城乡  ―  chéngxiāng  ―  urban and rural areas
  3. one's native place
    回鄉／回乡  ―  huíxiāng  ―  to return to one's native place
  4. place
  5. state; situation
    夢鄉／梦乡  ―  mèngxiāng  ―  dreamland
  6. a surname

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 鄉
Reading # 3/3
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		xiàng
Middle
Chinese 		‹ xjangH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*qʰaŋ-s/
English to face

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.

Definitions

鄉

  1. Alternative form of 嚮／向

Pronunciation 3

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 鄉
Reading # 2/3
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		xiǎng
Middle
Chinese 		‹ xjangX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*qʰaŋʔ/
English feast

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.

Definitions

鄉

  1. Alternative form of 饗／飨 (xiǎng)

Japanese

Kanji

鄉

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

  1. hometown

Readings

Korean

Hanja

鄉 • (hyang) (hangeul 향, revised hyang, McCune–Reischauer hyang, Yale hyang)

  1. alternative form of 鄕

Vietnamese

Han character

鄉: Hán Nôm readings: hương

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