爛柯

Chinese

		rotten; decayed; well-cooked rotten; decayed; well-cooked; mushy; broken; bad; to decay; completely	handle of axe; stem
trad. (爛柯)		爛	柯
simp. (烂柯)		烂	柯
Literally: “rotten axe handle”.

Etymology

From the story of the woodcutter Wang Zhi (王質) during the Western Jin dynasty. See Ranka (legend) on Wikipedia for more.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lànkē

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄢˋ ㄎㄜ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lànkē
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄢˋ ㄎㄜ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lànke
    • Wade–Giles: lan⁴-kʻo¹
    • Yale: làn-kē
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lannke
    • Palladius: ланькэ (lanʹkɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /län⁵¹ kʰɤ⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: lanH ka

Rime
Character	爛	柯
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	寒 (61)	歌 (94)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	郎旰切	古俄切
Baxter	lanH	ka
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɑnH/	/kɑ/
Pan Wuyun	/lɑnH/	/kɑ/
Shao Rongfen	/lɑnH/	/kɑ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lanH/	/ka/
Li Rong	/lɑnH/	/kɑ/
Wang Li	/lɑnH/	/kɑ/
Bernard Karlgren	/lɑnH/	/kɑ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	làn	gē
Expected Cantonese Reflex	laan6	go1

Noun

爛柯

1. (literary, figurative) fleeting passage of time; unpredictable changes of the world

Derived terms

• 爛柯亭／烂柯亭
• 爛柯人／烂柯人
• 爛柯仙客／烂柯仙客
• 爛柯山／烂柯山
• 爛柯樵／烂柯樵
• 王質爛柯／王质烂柯

 

Verb

爛柯

1. (literary, figurative) to play chess