蛍

See also: 螢 and 萤

蛍 U+86CD, 蛍 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-86CD ← 蛌 [U+86CC] CJK Unified Ideographs 蛎 → [U+86CE]

Translingual

Traditional	螢
Shinjitai	蛍
Simplified	萤

Han character

蛍 (Kangxi radical 142, 虫+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 火月中一戈 (FBLMI), composition ⿱𰃮虫)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 1081, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32983
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): not present, would follow volume 4, page 2845, character 4
• Unihan data for U+86CD

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 蛍 – see 螢 (“firefly”). (This character is a variant form of 螢).

Japanese

Shinjitai	蛍
Kyūjitai	螢

Glyph origin

Japanese shinjitai character. Simplified from 螢 (𤇾 → 𰃮).

Kanji

蛍

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 螢)

Readings

• Go-on: ぎょう (gyō)^{←ぎやう (gyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: けい (kei, Jōyō)^{←けい (kei, historical)←くゑい (kwei, ancient)}
• Kun: ほたる (hotaru, 蛍, Jōyō)

Compounds

• 蛍(けい)火(か) (keika)
• 蛍(けい)光(こう) (keikō, “fluorescence”)
• 蛍(けい)光(こう)灯(とう) (keikōtō, “fluorescent lamp”)
• 蛍(けい)光(こう)染(せん)料(りょう) (keikō senryō, “fluorescent dye”)
• 蛍(けい)雪(せつ) (keisetsu)
• 蛍(けい)窓(そう) (keisō)

 

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
蛍
ほたる Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
螢 (kyūjitai)

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshú, compiled some time after 759 CE. Ultimate derivation unknown.

• The initial ho element is almost certainly the ancient form of 火 (hi, “fire”), which appears as ho in compounds such as 炎 (honō, “flame”, originally from ho no ho) or 火屋 (hoya, “lamp chimney”).
• Various theories exist regarding the taru portion. This may be from classical verb 垂る (taru, “to hang down, to droop”, in reference to a firefly's posterior; modern form 垂れる (tareru)), or a vowel shift from verb 照る (teru, “to shine”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ほ​たる [hóꜜtàrù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ho̞ta̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

Noun

蛍(ほたる) or 蛍(ホタル) • (hotaru) 

1. a firefly

   火(ほ)垂(た)るの墓(はか)

   Hotaru no Haka

   Grave of the Fireflies

   • 1991 July 15, Mitsuru Adachi, “魔(ま)法(ほう)の粉(こな)の巻(まき)”, in [虹色とうがらし](ＮＩＪＩ－ＩＲＯ　ＴＯＨＧＡＲＡＳＨＩ), volume 4 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 30:

     しってるか、ホタルってのは虫(むし)だぞ。

     Shitteru ka, hotaru tte no wa mushi da zo.

     Did you not know fireflies were insects too?

Derived terms

• 蛍(ほたる)烏賊(いか) (hotaruika)
• 蛍(ほたる)石(いし) (hotaruishi, “fluorite”)
• 蛍(ほたる)蛾(が) (hotaruga)
• 蛍(ほたる)貝(がい) (hotarugai)
• 蛍(ほたる)籠(かご) (hotarukago)
• 蛍(ほたる)蔓(かずら) (hotarukazura)
• 蛍(ほたる)合(がっ)戦(せん) (hotaru gassen)
• 蛍(ほたる)狩(が)り (hotarugari)
• 蛍(ほたる)草(ぐさ) (hotarugusa)
• 蛍(ほたる)柴(さい)胡(こ) (hotarusaiko)
• 蛍(ほたる)雑(じゃ)魚(こ) (hotarujako)
• 蛍(ほたる)スイッチ (hotaru suitchi)
• 蛍(ほたる)草(そう) (hotarusō)
• 蛍(ほたる)族(ぞく) (hotaruzoku)
• 蛍(ほたる)手(で) (hotarude)
• 蛍(ほたる)火(び) (hotarubi)
• 蛍(ほたる)袋(ぶくろ) (hotarubukuro)
• 蛍(ほたる)船(ぶね) (hotarubune)

 

Proper noun

蛍(ほたる) • (Hotaru) 

1. a female given name

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
蛍
けい Grade: S
kan’on

Alternative spelling
螢 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 螢 (MC hweng, “firefly”).

Affix

蛍(けい) • (kei) 

1. used in various compounds to refer to fluorescence

Proper noun

蛍(けい) • (Kei) 

1. a female given name

Korean

Hanja

蛍 • (hyeong) (hangeul 형, revised hyeong, McCune–Reischauer hyŏng, Yale hyeng)

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