臤

臤 U+81E4, 臤 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-81E4 ← 臣 [U+81E3] CJK Unified Ideographs 臥 → [U+81E5]

Translingual

Han character

臤 (Kangxi radical 131, 臣+2, 8 strokes, cangjie input 尸中水 (SLE), composition ⿰臣又)

Derived characters

• 堅(坚) 婜(𫰐) 孯 掔 㷂 䁂 硻 竪(竖) 緊(紧) 腎(肾) 菣(𬜤) 蜸(𰲮) 豎 賢(贤) 㹂(𬌛) 鋻 䵖(𬹔)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 999, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30070
• Dae Jaweon: page 1450, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2802, character 1
• Unihan data for U+81E4

Chinese

simp. and trad.		臤
nonstandard simp.		𰀡

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 臤
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script

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

	Old Chinese
臤	*kʰaːn, *kʰriːn, *ɡiːn, *kʰins
掔	*kʰriːn, *kʰiːn
慳	*kʰriːn
藖	*ɡriːn, *ɡriːns
堅	*kiːn
鋻	*kiːn, *kiːns
鰹	*kiːn
蜸	*kʰiːnʔ
菣	*kʰiːns, *kʰins
賢	*ɡiːn
礥	*ɡiːn, *ɢrin
臔	*ɡiːnʔ
挋	*kiŋs
臣	*ɡiŋ
茞	*ɡiŋ
腎	*ɡjinʔ
頣	*hŋiŋʔ
緊	*kinʔ
嚚	*ŋɡriŋ
鏗	*kʰreːŋ
摼	*kʰreːŋ
硻	*kʰreːŋ

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): qiān (qian¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): haan¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: qiān
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cian
    • Wade–Giles: chʻien¹
    • Yale: chyān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chian
    • Palladius: цянь (cjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: haan¹
    • Yale: hāan
    • Cantonese Pinyin: haan¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: han¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /haːn⁵⁵/

---

• Middle Chinese: khan, khean, khinH

Rime
Character	臤	臤	臤
Reading #	1/4	2/4	4/4
Initial (聲)	溪 (29)	溪 (29)	溪 (29)
Final (韻)	寒 (61)	山 (73)	眞 (44)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	II	III
Fanqie	苦寒切	苦閑切	去刃切
Baxter	khan	khean	khinH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kʰɑn/	/kʰˠɛn/	/kʰˠiɪnH/
Pan Wuyun	/kʰɑn/	/kʰᵚæn/	/kʰᵚinH/
Shao Rongfen	/kʰɑn/	/kʰæn/	/kʰienH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kʰan/	/kʰəɨn/	/kʰjinH/
Li Rong	/kʰɑn/	/kʰɛn/	/kʰjĕnH/
Wang Li	/kʰɑn/	/kʰæn/	/kʰǐĕnH/
Bernard Karlgren	/kʰɑn/	/kʰăn/	/kʰi̯ĕnH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	kān	qiān	qìn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	hon1	haan1	han3

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʰaːn/, /*kʰriːn/, /*kʰins/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	臤	臤	臤
Reading #	1/4	2/4	4/4
No.	1324	1326	1348
Phonetic component	臣	臣	臣
Rime group	元	眞	眞
Rime subdivision	1	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	看	慳	菣
Old Chinese	/*kʰaːn/	/*kʰriːn/	/*kʰins/

Definitions

臤

1. (obsolete) firm and solid; rigid; stable

References

• (Cantonese) Jyutping Database (iso10646hk.net) - Cantonese Pronunciation List (Part 3), p. 186

Pronunciation 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 臤 – see 賢 (“virtuous; good; clever; wise; worthy; able; capable; etc.”). (This character is an ancient form of 賢).

See also

• 𰀡 (used only as a component for derived characters in simplified Chinese)

Japanese

Kanji

臤

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. hard
2. wise

Readings

• On (unclassified): かん (kan)、けん (ken)、こう (kō)、きょう (kyō)、げん (gen)
• Kun: かたい (katai)

Korean

Hanja

臤 • (gan) (hangeul 간, revised gan, McCune–Reischauer kan, Yale kan)

1. wise
2. hard