紺

See also: 绀

紺	U+7D3A, 紺 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7D3A

← 紹
[U+7D39]

CJK Unified Ideographs

紻 →
[U+7D3B]

Translingual

Han character

紺 (Kangxi radical 120, 糸+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 女火廿一 (VFTM), four-corner 2497₀, composition ⿰糹甘)

dark blue or reddish color

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 920, character 18
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 27362
Dae Jaweon: page 1352, character 14
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3378, character 12
Unihan data for U+7D3A

Chinese

trad.		紺
simp.		绀

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 紺
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (甘) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
紺	*kɯːms
姏	*mɡaːm
嵌	sɡaːmʔ, kʰraːm
甘	*kaːm
柑	*kaːm
苷	*kaːm
泔	*kaːm
坩	kaːm, kʰaːm
蚶	ɢaːm, ɢaːm
酣	*ɢaːm
甝	*ɢaːm
魽	*ɢaːm
邯	ɡaːm, ɡaːm
鉗	*ɡram
箝	*ɡram
黚	ɡram, ɡrɯm
拑	*ɡram

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kɯːms) : semantic 糸 (“silk; thread”) + phonetic 甘 (OC *kaːm).

Etymology 1

An areal word. Compare Proto-Tai *klamᴮ (“dark (red)”) (whence Thai คล้ำ (klám, “dark”)), Proto-Austronesian *kelam (“dark”) (Schuessler, 2007). See also 黔 and 黮.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): gàn (gan⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄍㄢˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): gam³
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): kàm

(Teochew, Peng'im): gam¹
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵koe

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: gàn
  - Zhuyin: ㄍㄢˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: gàn
  - Wade–Giles: kan⁴
  - Yale: gàn
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: gann
  - Palladius: гань (ganʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kän⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: gam³
  - Yale: gam
  - Cantonese Pinyin: gam³
  - Guangdong Romanization: gem³
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɐm³³/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kàm
  - Tâi-lô: kàm
  - Phofsit Daibuun: kaxm
  - IPA (Xiamen): /kam²¹/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /kam⁴¹/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /kam²¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /kam¹¹/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /kam²¹/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: gam¹
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kam
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kam³³/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁵koe
  - MiniDict: koe^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²koe
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /kø³⁴/

Middle Chinese: komH

Rime
Character	紺
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	覃 (159)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	古暗切
Baxter	komH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kʌm^H/
Pan Wuyun	/kəm^H/
Shao Rongfen	/kɒm^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kəm^H/
Li Rong	/kᴀm^H/
Wang Li	/kɒm^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kăm^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	gàn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gam³

Old Chinese
(Zhengzhang): /*kɯːms/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	紺
Reading #	1/1
No.	3649
Phonetic component	甘
Rime group	侵
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	紺
Old Chinese	/*kɯːms/

Definitions

紺

purple; violet; blackish red

Compounds

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Japanese 紺 (kon), from Middle Chinese 紺 (kʌm^H), see previous etymology for detail.

Pronunciation

Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): khóng

Southern Min
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khóng
  - Tâi-lô: khóng
  - Phofsit Daibuun: qorng
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰɔŋ⁴¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /kʰɔŋ⁵³/

Definitions

紺

(Taiwanese Hokkien) navy blue; dark blue

Synonyms

紺色／绀色

References

“紺”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

紺

(Jōyō kanji)

navy blue

Readings

Go-on: こん (kon, Jōyō)
Kan-on: かん (kan)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
紺
こん Grade: S
on'yomi

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) こん [kóꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
IPA^(key): [kõ̞ɴ]

Noun

紺(こん) • (kon)

navy blue, dark blue

References

^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 紺 (MC komH). Recorded as Middle Korean 감〯 (kǎm) (Yale: kǎm) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

(SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ka̠m]
Phonetic hangul: [감]

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

紺

Wikisource

紺 (eumhun 감색 감 (gamsaek gam))

hanja form^? of 감 (“navy blue; dark blue”)

Compounds

감색 (紺色, gamsaek)
감벽 (紺碧, gambyeok)
감청 (紺靑, gamcheong)

References

국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

Chữ Hán

紺: Hán Nôm readings: cám, tim, tím

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[DJR-1] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]