鎌

See also: 鐮 and 镰

鎌 U+938C, 鎌 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-938C ← 鎋 [U+938B] CJK Unified Ideographs 鎍 → [U+938D]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

鎌 (Kangxi radical 167, 金+10, 18 strokes, cangjie input 金廿難金 (CTXC), four-corner 8813₇, composition ⿰釒兼)

Related characters

• 鐮 (Orthodox traditional form for the meaning "sickle")
• 镰 (Simplified form of 鐮 in mainland China)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1316, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 40693
• Dae Jaweon: page 1816, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4244, character 9
• Unihan data for U+938C

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 鎌
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

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

	Old Chinese
譧	*r'eːms
賺	*r'eːms
尲	*kreːm
鹻	*kreːmʔ
歉	*kʰreːms, *kʰreːmʔ, *kʰeːmʔ, *kʰeːms
槏	*kʰreːmʔ
鰜	*ɡreːm, *keːm
稴	*ɡreːm, *ɡ·reːm, *ɡ·reːmʔ, *ɡ·reːms, *ɡeːm
豏	*ɡreːmʔ, *ɡreːms
甉	*ɡreːmʔ, *ɡraːm
廉	*ɡ·rem
鎌	*ɡ·rem
鬑	*ɡ·rem, *ɡ·reːm
鐮	*ɡ·rem
簾	*ɡ·rem
薕	*ɡ·rem, *ɡ·reːm
蠊	*ɡ·rem
嬚	*ɡ·remʔ
溓	*ɡ·remʔ, *ɡ·reːm, *ɡ·reːmʔ
嵰	*kʰremʔ
隒	*ŋɡremʔ
熑	*ɡ·reːm
濂	*ɡ·reːm
燫	*ɡ·reːm
兼	*keːm, *keːms
縑	*keːm
鶼	*keːm
蒹	*keːm
搛	*keːm
謙	*kʰeːm
膁	*kʰeːmʔ
嗛	*kʰeːmʔ
慊	*kʰeːmʔ, *kʰeːb
傔	*kʰeːms
馦	*qʰeːm
嫌	*ɡeːm
鼸	*ɡeːmʔ
尷	*kreːm

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɡ·rem) : semantic 金 (“gold; metal”) + phonetic 兼 (OC *keːm, *keːms)

Etymology 1

trad.		鎌
simp.		镰*
nonstandard simp.		𰾮
alternative forms		䥥／镰

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “same as etymology 2? from 磏?”)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lián (lian²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄧㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lim⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lián
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄧㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lián
    • Wade–Giles: lien²
    • Yale: lyán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lian
    • Palladius: лянь (ljanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li̯ɛn³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: lim⁴
    • Yale: lìhm
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lim⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: lim⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /liːm²¹/

Definitions

鎌

1. ^† arrowhead with square corners

   Synonyms: 棱 (léng), 箭鏃 / 箭镞

   See also: 磏

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 鎌 – see 鐮 (“sickle”). (This character is a variant form of 鐮).

References

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A04352-001#26
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), B05411
• “鎌”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Shinjitai	鎌
Kyūjitai	鎌󠄁 鎌+󠄁? (Adobe-Japan1)
	鎌󠄃 鎌+󠄃? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

鎌

(Jōyō kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: れん (ren)
• Kan-on: れん (ren)
• Kun: かま (kama, 鎌, Jōyō)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
鎌
かま Grade: S
kun'yomi

鎌 (kama): a traditional Japanese sickle.

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かま [káꜜmà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ma̠]

Noun

鎌(かま) • (kama) 

1. a sickle

   Synonym: サイズ (saizu)

   • 1999 February 4, “ダークキラー [Dark Killer]”, in Vol.1, Konami:

     カマのように発(はっ)達(たつ)した腕(うで)を振(ふ)り回(まわ)し攻(こう)撃(げき)してくる。

     Kama no yō ni hattatsu shita ude o furimawashi kōgeki shitekuru.

     It attacks with its arms, which have grown like sickles.

2. a sickle-shaped weapon, such as a polearm with a sickle-shaped blade, or a 鎖鎌 (kusarigama)
   • 1999 July 5, “音(オト)女(メ) [Sonicmaiden]”, in Booster 3, Konami:

     音(おと)を扱(あつか)うのが得(とく)意(い)なオトメ。音(おん)符(ぷ)のカマを使(つか)い攻(こう)撃(げき)する。

     Oto o atsukau no ga tokui na otome. Onpu no kama o tsu kai kōgeki suru.

     A maiden proud of her ability to manipulate sound. She attacks with her musical-note-shaped scythe.

3. Short for 火打鎌 (hiuchigama, “a striker for lighting fires”). (from the way that pieces of a broken kama blade were used for this purpose)
4. (slang) a perverse or bent tendency or way of thinking (from the way a kama blade bends)
5. (slang) a person with a perverse or bent tendency or way of thinking
6. a category of 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) featuring a sickle
7. (woodworking) Short for 鎌継 (kamatsugi, “hammer-headed tenon”). (from the way the sickle blade sticks out perpendicular to the handle, similar to the sides of the hammer head on this kind of tenon)
8. (slang) excessive talkativeness (probably by sound association with the word 喧しい (yakamashii, “noisy”))
9. (slang) an excessively talkative person
10. (slang) a penis (probably from the way that a sickle blade sticks out perpendicular to the handle)

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:陰茎

Derived terms

• 鎌鼬(かまいたち) (kamaitachi)
• 鎌倉(かまくら) (Kamakura)
• 鎌柄(かまつか) (kamatsuka)
• 鎌継(かまつぎ) (kamatsugi)
• 鎌(かま)槍(やり) (kamayari): a kind of polearm with a sickle-shaped blade
• 大(おお)鎌(がま) (ōgama): a scythe
• 鎖(くさり)鎌(がま) (kusarigama): a sickle chain, a kind of weapon
• 草(くさ)刈(か)り鎌(がま) (kusakarigama): a sickle for mowing grass
• 小鎌(こがま) (kogama)
• 火打鎌(ひうちがま) (hiuchigama)
• 鉈鎌(なたがま) (natagama)

Idioms

• 鎌(かま)が切(き)れる (kama ga kireru): “the sickle cuts well” → to do things with authority, to get things sorted quickly and efficiently, to do things crisply and tidily
• 鎌(かま)を掛(か)ける (kama o kakeru): “to apply the sickle” → to get something out of a person without them being aware (compare English to glean); to tempt someone, to draw someone out
• 鎌(かま)に掛(か)かる (kama ni kakaru): “to be caught by a sickle” → to be taken in by someone, to be fooled or tricked

Korean

Etymology

From a corrupted or unorthodox reading.

Historical readings

• Recorded as Middle Korean 겸 (kyem)^訓 (Yale: kyem) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.
• Recorded as Middle Korean 겸 (kyem)^訓 (Yale: kyem) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

The original reading is 렴 (ryeom) based on Middle Chinese 鎌 (MC ljem).

Historical readings

• Recorded as Middle Korean 렴 (lyem)^訓 (Yale: lyem) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kjʌ̹m]
• Phonetic hangul: [겸]

Hanja

Wikisource

鎌 (eumhun 낫 겸 (nat gyeom))

1. hanja form^? of 겸 (“sickle”)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

Vietnamese

Han character

鎌: Hán Việt readings: liêm (力(lực)鹽(diêm)切(thiết))
鎌: Nôm readings: gươm, liềm

1. Nôm form of liềm (“sickle”).
2. Nôm form of gươm (“sword”).