闇

See also: 暗 and 𬮴

闇	U+95C7, 闇 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-95C7

← 闆
[U+95C6]

CJK Unified Ideographs

闈 →
[U+95C8]

Translingual

Han character

闇 (Kangxi radical 169, 門+9, 17 strokes, cangjie input 日弓卜廿日 (ANYTA), four-corner 7760₁, composition ⿵門音)

close, shut
dark, dismal

Derived characters

𭌩, 𤃷, 𧮍

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 1338, character 22
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41421
Dae Jaweon: page 1843, character 34
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4309, character 7
Unihan data for U+95C7

Chinese

trad.		闇
simp.		𬮴

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 闇
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
諳	*qɯːm
腤	*qɯːm
嬜	qɯːm, qʰaːm, *qʰrɯm
喑	qɯːm, qrɯm, *qrɯms
揞	qɯːmʔ, qrɯːms
隌	qɯːmʔ, qrɯm
罯	qɯːmʔ, qɯːb
暗	*qɯːms
闇	*qɯːms
黯	qrɯːm, qrɯːmʔ
歆	*qʰrɯm
愔	*qɯm
韾	*qɯm
音	*qrɯm
瘖	*qrɯm
窨	*qrɯms
湆	*kʰrɯb

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *qɯːms) : semantic 門 + phonetic 音 (OC *qrɯm).

Pronunciation 1

Mandarin
(Pinyin): àn (an⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄢˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): am³ / am²

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: àn
  - Zhuyin: ㄢˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: àn
  - Wade–Giles: an⁴
  - Yale: àn
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ann
  - Palladius: ань (anʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀän⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: am³ / am²
  - Yale: am / ám
  - Cantonese Pinyin: am³ / am²
  - Guangdong Romanization: em³ / em²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐm³³/, /ɐm³⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

Middle Chinese: 'omH

Rime
Character	闇
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)
Final (韻)	覃 (159)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	烏紺切
Baxter	'omH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔʌm^H/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔəm^H/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔɒm^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔəm^H/
Li Rong	/ʔᴀm^H/
Wang Li	/ɒm^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ʔăm^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	àn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	am³

Old Chinese
(Zhengzhang): /*qɯːms/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	闇
Reading #	1/1
No.	15214
Phonetic component	音
Rime group	侵
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	暗
Old Chinese	/*qɯːms/

Definitions

闇

to close the door
night; dusk; eclipse
Alternative form of 暗 (àn, “dark; secret; ignorant”)

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Mandarin
(Pinyin): ān (an¹)

(Zhuyin): ㄢ
Cantonese (Jyutping): am¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: ān
  - Zhuyin: ㄢ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: an
  - Wade–Giles: an¹
  - Yale: ān
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: an
  - Palladius: ань (anʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀän⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: am¹
  - Yale: ām
  - Cantonese Pinyin: am¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: em¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐm⁵⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

Definitions

闇

room for mourning the death of a ruler
Alternative form of 諳 / 谙 (ān, “to fully understand”)

Compounds

諒闇 / 谅暗

Pronunciation 3

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yǎn (yan³)

(Zhuyin): ㄧㄢˇ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: yǎn
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: yǎn
  - Wade–Giles: yen³
  - Yale: yǎn
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yean
  - Palladius: янь (janʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn²¹⁴/

Definitions

闇

Alternative form of 奄 (“suddenly”)

References

“闇”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Shinjitai	闇
Kyūjitai ^[1]^[2]	闇󠄂 闇+`󠄂`^? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

闇

(Jōyō kanji)

dark, darkness

Readings

Go-on: おん (on)^{←おん (on, historical)}^{←おむ (omu, ancient)}
Kan-on: あん (an)^{←あん (an, historical)}^{←あむ (amu, ancient)}
Kun: やみ (yami, 闇, Jōyō)、くらい (kurai, 闇い)

Compounds

闇夜(あんや) (an'ya): a dark night, a night with no moon; a dark and depressing outlook
闇(やみ)夜(よ) (yamiyo): a dark night, a night with no moon

Usage notes

Added to the jōyō kanji list on 30 November 2010; previously classified as jinmeiyō kanji.

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
闇
やみ Grade: S
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. Ultimate roots uncertain. May be cognate with 病む (yamu, “to be ill”), 止む (yamu, “to stop, to quit”), 黄泉 (yomi, “land of the dead”).

Reconstructed as deriving ultimately from Proto-Japonic *yamui.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) やみ [yàmíꜜ] (Odaka – [2])^[3]^[4]
IPA^(key): [ja̠mʲi]

Noun

闇(やみ) • (yami)

the dark, darkness

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
闇
あん Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 闇 (MC 'omH, “dark”).

Alternative forms

暗

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) あん [áꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[4]
IPA^(key): [ã̠ɴ]

Noun

闇(あん) • (an)

darkness, the dark
a dark place
(Buddhism) darkness, as a metaphor for worldly desires

References

^ Haga, Gōtarō (1914) 漢和大辞書 [The Great Kanji-Japanese Dictionary] (in Japanese), Fourth edition, Tōkyō: Kōbunsha, →DOI, page 2224 (paper), page 1164 (digital)
^ Shōundō Henshūjo, editor (1927), 新漢和辞典 [The New Kanji-Japanese Dictionary] (in Japanese), Ōsaka: Shōundō, →DOI, page 1293 (paper), page 659 (digital)
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

Hanja

闇 (eumhun 숨을 암 (sumeul am))

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

Vietnamese

Han character

闇: Hán Nôm readings: ám

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

[1] Haga, Gōtarō (1914) 漢和大辞書 [The Great Kanji-Japanese Dictionary] (in Japanese), Fourth edition, Tōkyō: Kōbunsha, →DOI, page 2224 (paper), page 1164 (digital)

[2] Shōundō Henshūjo, editor (1927), 新漢和辞典 [The New Kanji-Japanese Dictionary] (in Japanese), Ōsaka: Shōundō, →DOI, page 1293 (paper), page 659 (digital)

[NHK-3] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[DJR-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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