祆

See also: 祅

祆 U+7946, 祆 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7946 ← 祅 [U+7945] CJK Unified Ideographs 祇 → [U+7947]

Translingual

Han character

祆 (Kangxi radical 113, 示+4, 9 strokes, cangjie input 戈火一大 (IFMK), four-corner 3223₄, composition ⿰礻天)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 840, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24638
• Dae Jaweon: page 1258, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2388, character 10
• Unihan data for U+7946

Further reading

• “Zoroastrianism between Iranic and Sinitic” by Victor Mair (2022-11-18), published by Language Log

Chinese

simp. and trad.		祆

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
添	*tʰiːm
忝	*l̥ʰiːmʔ, *l̥ʰiːms
悿	*tʰiːmʔ
舔	*l̥ʰiːmʔ
菾	*diːm
天	*qʰl'iːn
吞	*qʰl'iːn, *qʰl'ɯːn
祆	*qʰliːn
蚕	*zluːm, *hl'iːnʔ

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *qʰliːn): semantic 礻 + phonetic 天 (OC *qʰl'iːn, “heaven”).

Etymology

Cognate with 天 (OC *qʰl'iːn).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xiān (xian¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): hin¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): hian

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xiān
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sian
    • Wade–Giles: hsien¹
    • Yale: syān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shian
    • Palladius: сянь (sjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: hin¹
    • Yale: hīn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hin¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: hin¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hiːn⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hian
    • Tâi-lô: hian
    • Phofsit Daibuun: hiefn
    • IPA (Xiamen): /hiɛn⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /hiɛn³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /hiɛn⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /hiɛn⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /hiɛn⁴⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: xen

Rime
Character	祆
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	曉 (32)
Final (韻)	先 (85)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	呼煙切
Baxter	xen
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/hen/
Pan Wuyun	/hen/
Shao Rongfen	/xɛn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/hɛn/
Li Rong	/xen/
Wang Li	/xien/
Bernhard Karlgren	/xien/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	xiān
Expected Cantonese Reflex	hin1

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*qʰliːn/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	祆
Reading #	1/1
No.	12389
Phonetic component	天
Rime group	眞
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	祆
Old Chinese	/*qʰliːn/

Definitions

祆

1. Ahura Mazda, god of the Zoroastrians

   • 祆：胡神也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad. and simp.]

     From: Shuowen Jiezi, circa 2^nd century CE

     Xiān: húshén yě. [Pinyin]

     Xian is the god of the foreigners.

Compounds

• 火燒祆廟 / 火烧祆庙
• 祆廟 / 祆庙
• 祆教 (Xiānjiào)
• 祆正
• 祆神
• 祆道

References

• “祆”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

祆

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. Ahura Mazda, god of the Zoroastrians

Readings

• Go-on: けん (ken)
• Kan-on: けん (ken)
• Kan’yō-on: てん (ten)

Compounds

• 祆(けん)教(きょう) (kenkyō, “Zoroastrianism”)

Korean

Hanja

祆 (eum 천 (cheon))

1. Ahura Mazda, god of the Zoroastrians

Compounds

천교 (祆敎, cheon'gyo, “Zoroastrianism”)