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)

1. 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

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• 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/

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• 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	/kʌmH/
Pan Wuyun	/kəmH/
Shao Rongfen	/kɒmH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kəmH/
Li Rong	/kᴀmH/
Wang Li	/kɒmH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kămH/
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

1. purple; violet; blackish red

Compounds

• 發紺 / 发绀 (fāgàn)
• 紺坊 / 绀坊
• 紺宇 / 绀宇
• 紺殿 / 绀殿
• 紺珠 / 绀珠
• 紺紫 / 绀紫
• 紺青 / 绀青

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): khóng

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

Definitions

紺

1. (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)

1. 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])
• IPA^(key): [kõ̞ɴ]

Noun

紺(こん) • (kon) 

1. navy blue, dark blue

See also

Colors in Japanese · 色(いろ) (iro) (layout · text)

白(しろ) (shiro)	灰(はい)色(いろ) (haiiro), 鼠(ねずみ)色(いろ) (nezumiiro) (dated)	黒(くろ) (kuro)
赤(あか) (aka); 深(しん)紅(く) (shinku), クリムゾン (kurimuzon), 紅(べに)色(いろ) (beniiro), 紅(くれない)色(いろ) (kurenaiiro), 茜(あかね)色(いろ) (akaneiro)	橙(だいだい)色(いろ) (daidaiiro), オレンジ (orenji); 茶(ちゃ)色(いろ) (chairo), 褐(かっ)色(しょく) (kasshoku)	黄(き)色(いろ) (kiiro); クリーム色(いろ) (kurīmuiro)
黄(き)緑(みどり) (kimidori)	緑(みどり) (midori), 青(あお) (ao) (dated)	若(わか)緑(みどり) (wakamidori)
水(みず)色(いろ) (mizuiro), シアン (shian); 鴨(かも)の(の)羽(はね)色(いろ) (kamo no hane iro)	空(そら)色(いろ) (sorairo), 縹(はなだ) (hanada); 青(あお) (ao)	紺(こん)藍(あい) (kon'ai); 紺(こん) (kon)
菫(すみれ)色(いろ) (sumireiro); 藍(あい)色(いろ) (aiiro), インジゴ (injigo)	赤(あか)紫(むらさき) (akamurasaki), マゼンタ (mazenta); 紫(むらさき) (murasaki)	桃(もも)色(いろ) (momoiro), ピンク (pinku)

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

Wikisource

紺 (eumhun 감색 감 (gamsaek gam))

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

Compounds

• 감벽 (紺碧, gambyeok)
• 감색 (紺色, gamsaek)
• 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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