亀

See also: 龜

亀	U+4E80, 亀 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E80

← 乿
[U+4E7F]

CJK Unified Ideographs

亁 →
[U+4E81]

⻲	U+2EF2, ⻲ CJK RADICAL J-SIMPLIFIED TURTLE

← ⻱
[U+2EF1]

CJK Radicals Supplement

⻳ →
[U+2EF3]

Translingual

Stroke order

Traditional	龜
Shinjitai	亀
Simplified	龟

Glyph origin

Variant of 龜, simplified from 龜. The modern Japanese usage is of reform (shinjitai) nature.

Han character

See images of
Radical 213 亀

亀 (Kangxi radical 213, 亀+0, 11 strokes, cangjie input 弓田中山 (NWLU), four-corner 2771₆, composition ⿻龟日)

Derived characters

𫣒, 𠼓, 𭒗, 𭧛, 𪚲, 𪳥, 穐, 𦅥, 𫝰, 䆴, 𫠝, 䦰, 䰗, 𦿷

References

Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 142, character 28
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 210
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 8 (in addendum), page 10, character 19
Unihan data for U+4E80

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 亀 – see 龜 (“turtle; tortoise; cuckold; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 龜).

Japanese

Shinjitai	亀
Kyūjitai	龜

Kanji

亀

(Jōyō kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 龜)

Readings

Go-on: き (ki, Jōyō)^{←き (ki, historical)}、く (ku)
Kan-on: き (ki, Jōyō)^{←き (ki, historical)}、きゅう (kyū)^{←きう (kiu, historical)}
Kun: かめ (kame, 亀, Jōyō)
Nanori: あま (ama)、すすむ (susumu)、ひさ (hisa)、ひさし (hisashi)

Compounds

神(じん)亀(き) (Jinki)
金亀子(コガネムシ) (koganemushi)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
亀
かめ Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
龜 (kyūjitai)

亀 (kame): a turtle.

⟨kame₂⟩ → */kaməɨ/ → /kame/

From Old Japanese 龜 (kame₂). First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) かめ [káꜜmè] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [ka̠me̞]

Noun

亀(かめ) or 亀(カメ) • (kame)

a tortoise or turtle (land or marine reptile with a shell)
- 2007, Kōsuke Hasumi, The Biology of Fairy Tales, page 28:
  
  休(やす)んで負(ま)けてしまったウサギと休(やす)まず走(はし)って勝利(しょうり)したカメ。
  Yasunde makete shimatta usagi to yasumazu hashitte shōri shita kame.
  The tortoise ran without resting and won, and the hare rested and lost.
(by extension, figurative, as turtles are thought to be good drinkers) a drunkard
a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) with various designs of tortoises
(figurative) sluggishness; also, such a person
a shrugger
(slang, as it resembles a turtle's neck) a penis
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:陰茎

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as カメ.

Derived terms

Idioms

亀(かめ)の年(とし)を鶴(つる)が羨(うらや)む (kame no toshi o tsuru ga urayamu)

Proverbs

鶴(つる)は千(せん)年(ねん)亀(かめ)は万(まん)年(ねん) (tsuru wa sennen kame wa mannen)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
亀
き Grade: S
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
龜 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 龜 (MC kwij).

Affix

亀(き) • (ki)

tortoise, turtle
tortoise shell used in divination

Derived terms

References

^ “亀”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ 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

Korean

Hanja

亀 • (gwi, gyun) (hangeul 귀, 균, revised gwi, gyun, McCune–Reischauer kwi, kyun)

a turtle's or tortoise's shell

[1] “亀”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[DJR-2] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[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

[1]

[2]

[3]