夃

Translingual

Etymology

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 𠄎 (“strain”) + 夂 (“go slowly”) – straining and slowly moving (because having trouble with the abondance of goods carried).

From the Shuowen: “秦以市買多得爲夃。从𠄎从夂，益至也。从乃。[...]乃，難意也。” (“During the Qin, purchasing too much at the market was known as 夃. Derived from 𠄎 and 夂. It means "to exceed/augment." [𠄎 is] from 乃. [...] [In this context] 乃 means strain/trouble/difficulty”)

Han character

夃 (radical 34 夂+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 弓竹尸水 (NHSE), 弓尸竹水 (NSHE), four-corner 1722₇)

1. (literally) To purchase (excessively)
2. (figuratively) To exceed, augment

References

• KangXi: page 244, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5693
• Dae Jaweon: page 485, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 393, character 6
• Unihan data for U+5903

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Japanese

Kanji

夃

Readings

• On: こ (ko), く (ku), えい (ei)
• Kun: もうける (moukeru), うる (uru), しばらく (shibaraku)

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Mandarin

Hanzi

夃 (pinyin gū (gu1) or gǔ (gu3), Wade-Giles ku¹ or ku³)

(archaic) of 賈, to buy (excessively/abundantly)

夃 (pinyin yíng (ying2), Wade-Giles ying²)

(archaic) of 赢, to augment, increase, add