荏

荏 U+834F, 荏 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-834F ← 荎 [U+834E] CJK Unified Ideographs 荐 → [U+8350]

Translingual

Han character

荏 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+6, 12 strokes, cangjie input 廿人竹土 (TOHG), four-corner 4421₄, composition ⿱艹任)

Derived characters

• 𭉡

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1031, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30950
• Dae Jaweon: page 1490, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3206, character 4
• Unihan data for U+834F

Chinese

trad.		荏
simp. #		荏

Wikipedia has an article on:

• 荏

Glyph origin

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

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

	Old Chinese
紝	*nɯm, *njɯm, *njɯms
鵀	*nɯm, *njɯm, *njɯms
拰	*nɯmʔ
賃	*nɯms
任	*njɯm, *njɯms
壬	*l̥ʰeːŋʔ, *njɯm
恁	*njɯm, *njɯmʔ
銋	*njɯm, *njɯmʔ
荏	*njɯmʔ
餁	*njɯmʔ
栠	*njɯmʔ
袵	*njɯmʔ
飪	*njɯmʔ
妊	*njɯms
衽	*njɯms

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *njɯmʔ): semantic 艹 + phonetic 任 (OC *njɯm, *njɯms).

Etymology

“a kind of big bean”

Cognate with Burmese ညံ (nyam, “the legume Sesbania cannabina”) (Schuessler, 2007). Sagart alternatively links this to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-n(u/a)m (“fat, oil”), presuming that perilla oil was known to early Sinitic peoples (Sagart, 2021).

“soft; weak”

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *njam (“soft”). Cognate with Burmese ညံ့ (nyam., “soft”), Mizo nêm (“soft”). Outside Sino-Tibetan, compare Thai นุ่ม (nûm, “soft”).

Possibly related to 飪 (OC *njɯmʔ, “cooked”), 腍 (OC *njɯmʔ, “cooked; delicious”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Older theories compare the word with 柔 (OC *mlju, “soft”) (STEDT).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): rěn (ren³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄖㄣˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jam⁵ / jam⁶ / jam³
• Eastern Min (BUC): īng
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): lám
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶zen

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: rěn
    • Zhuyin: ㄖㄣˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: rěn
    • Wade–Giles: jên³
    • Yale: rěn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: reen
    • Palladius: жэнь (žɛnʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʐən²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)
    • Jyutping: jam⁵ / jam⁶ / jam³
    • Yale: yáhm / yahm / yam
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jam⁵ / jam⁶ / jam³
    • Guangdong Romanization: yem⁵ / yem⁶ / yem³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐm¹³/, /jɐm²²/, /jɐm³³/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: īng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /iŋ³³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Singapore)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lám
    • Tâi-lô: lám
    • Phofsit Daibuun: larm
    • IPA (Singapore): /lam⁴²/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶zen
    • MiniDict: zen^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³zen
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /zən²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: nyimX

Rime
Character	荏
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	日 (38)
Final (韻)	侵 (139)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	如甚切
Baxter	nyimX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ȵiɪmX/
Pan Wuyun	/ȵimX/
Shao Rongfen	/ȵʑjemX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ȵimX/
Li Rong	/ȵiəmX/
Wang Li	/ȵʑĭĕmX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ȵʑi̯əmX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	rěn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jam5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*n[ə]mʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*njɯmʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	荏
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	rěn
Middle Chinese	‹ nyimX ›
Old Chinese	/*n[ə]mʔ/ (< *num?)
English	a kind of big beans
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	荏
Reading #	1/1
No.	10814
Phonetic component	壬
Rime group	侵
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	荏
Old Chinese	/*njɯmʔ/

Definitions

荏

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) perilla (Perilla frutescens)
2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) a kind of big bean; big
3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) soft; weak; yielding
4. (Singapore Hokkien) weak; feeble; frail

Synonyms

• (perilla): 白蘇／白苏 (báisū)

Compounds

• 內荏 / 内荏
• 外厲內荏 / 外厉内荏
• 色厲內荏 / 色厉内荏 (sèlìnèirěn)
• 苒荏 (rǎnrěn)
• 荏弱 (rěnruò)
• 荏染
• 荏苒 (rěnrǎn)
• 韶光荏苒
• 風塵荏苒 / 风尘荏苒

Japanese

Kanji

See also:

Category:Japanese terms spelled with 荏

荏

(Hyōgai kanji)

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

Readings

• Go-on: にん (nin)
• Kan-on: じん (jin)
• Kun: え (e)

Korean

Hanja

荏 • (im) (hangeul 임, revised im, McCune–Reischauer im, Yale im)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

荏: Hán Nôm readings: nhẫm

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