馗

馗 U+9997, 馗 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9997 ← 首 [U+9996] CJK Unified Ideographs 馘 → [U+9998]

Translingual

Han character

馗 (Kangxi radical 185, 首+2, 11 strokes, cangjie input 大弓廿竹山 (KNTHU), four-corner 4801₆, composition ⿺九首)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1428, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 44492
• Dae Jaweon: page 1954, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4501, character 2
• Unihan data for U+9997

Chinese

simp. and trad.		馗
2nd round simp.		⿺九刀
alternative forms		𠃳

Glyph origin

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

Characters in the same phonetic series (九) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
尻	*kʰuː
訄	*kʰuː, *kʰu, *ɡu
艽	*krɯːw, *qʰrɯːw, *ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
虓	*qʰruː
鳩	*ku
勼	*ku
九	*kuʔ
究	*kus
仇	*ɡu
鼽	*ɡu
犰	*ɡu
叴	*ɡu
厹	*ɡu
頄	*ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
朹	*ɡu, *kʷrɯwʔ
馗	*ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
扏	*ɡu
訅	*ɡu
釚	*ɡu
肍	*ɡu
軌	*kʷrɯwʔ
宄	*kʷrɯwʔ
氿	*kʷrɯwʔ
匭	*kʷrɯwʔ
泦	*kuɡ
旭	*qʰʷoɡ

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kuí (kui²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄨㄟˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kwai⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: kuí
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄨㄟˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kuéi
    • Wade–Giles: kʻuei²
    • Yale: kwéi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kwei
    • Palladius: куй (kuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰu̯eɪ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: kwai⁴
    • Yale: kwàih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kwai⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: kuei⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʷʰɐi̯²¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: gwij

Rime
Character	馗
Reading #	1/2
Initial (聲)	群 (30)
Final (韻)	脂 (18)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	渠追切
Baxter	gwij
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɡˠiuɪ/
Pan Wuyun	/ɡʷᵚi/
Shao Rongfen	/ɡiuɪ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/gjwi/
Li Rong	/ɡjui/
Wang Li	/ɡwi/
Bernhard Karlgren	/gwi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	kuí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	kwai4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ɡ]ʷru/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡʷrɯw/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	馗
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	kuí
Middle Chinese	‹ gwij ›
Old Chinese	/*[ɡ]ʷru/
English	thoroughfare
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] 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	馗
Reading #	2/2
No.	6963
Phonetic component	九
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	逵
Old Chinese	/*ɡʷrɯw/
Notes	集韻改渠龜切

Definitions

馗

1. (literary) Alternative form of 逵 (kuí, “thoroughfare”)
2. Used in personal names.

Compounds

• 氣殺鍾馗 / 气杀钟馗
• 鍾馗 / 钟馗

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): qiú (qiu²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧㄡˊ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: qiú
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧㄡˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cióu
    • Wade–Giles: chʻiu²
    • Yale: chyóu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chyou
    • Palladius: цю (cju)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵/

---

• Middle Chinese: gjuw

Rime
Character	馗
Reading #	2/2
Initial (聲)	群 (30)
Final (韻)	尤 (136)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	巨鳩切
Baxter	gjuw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɡɨu/
Pan Wuyun	/ɡiu/
Shao Rongfen	/ɡiəu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/guw/
Li Rong	/ɡiu/
Wang Li	/ɡĭəu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/gi̯ə̯u/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	qiú
Expected Cantonese Reflex	kau4

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡu/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	馗
Reading #	1/2
No.	6952
Phonetic component	九
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	𧚍
Old Chinese	/*ɡu/

Definitions

馗

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

Japanese

Kanji

馗

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. road

Readings

• Go-on: ぎ (gi)、ぐ (gu)
• Kan-on: き (ki)、きゅう (kyū)
• Kun: ほおぼね (hōbone)、みち (michi)、かくれる (kakureru)

Korean

Hanja

馗 • (gyu) (hangeul 규, revised gyu, McCune–Reischauer kyu, Yale kyu)

1. cheekbone
2. path, road
3. intersection

Vietnamese

Han character

馗: Hán Việt readings: quỳ

1. chữ Hán form of quỳ.

Zhuang

Noun

馗

1. Sawndip form of gyaeuj (“head; headhair”)