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Definition 2024

善

善

善 U+5584, 善
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5584
← 喃
[U+5583] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 喅 →
[U+5585]
See also: 譱

Translingual

Han character

善 (radical 30 口+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 廿土廿口 (TGTR) or 廿廿口 (TTR), four-corner 80605, composition ⿻羊⿱䒑口)

References

  • KangXi: page 197, character 18
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3904
  • Dae Jaweon: page 418, character 38
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 660, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+5584

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 善
alt. forms 譱

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 善
Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (善) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
橏 *tjenʔ
嫸 *tjenʔ
善 *ɡjenʔ
譱 *ɡjenʔ
蟮 *djanʔ
鱔 *djanʔ
僐 *djenʔ, *djens
鄯 *djenʔ, *djens
墡 *djenʔ
磰 *djenʔ
繕 *ɡjens
膳 *djens
饍 *djens

From 誩 ("say a lot") + 羊 ("goat" [=offering]), with the implied meaning of "virtuous." (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 善
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 常 (25)
Final (韻) 仙 (77)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 常演切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /d͡ʑiᴇnX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /d͡ʑiɛnX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /d͡ʑjænX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /d͡ʑianX/
Li
Rong		 /ʑiɛnX/
Wang
Li		 /ʑĭɛnX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ʑi̯ɛnX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 shàn
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 善
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 shàn
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ dzyenX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[ɡ]e[n]ʔ/
English good

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 善
Reading # 1/1
No. 11084
Phonetic
component		 善
Rime
group		 元
Rime
subdivision		 2
Corresponding
MC rime		 善
Old
Chinese		 /*ɡjenʔ/

Definitions

善

  1. good, virtuous, charitable, kind

Antonyms

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

善

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

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Readings

Korean

Hanja

善 • ‎(seon) (hangeul 선, revised seon, McCune-Reischauer sŏn)

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Vietnamese

Han character

善 (thiện, thiến)

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