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

1. close, shut
2. dark, dismal

References

• KangXi: 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

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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, OC *qɯːms): semantic 門 + phonetic 音 (OC *qrɯm).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ān (an¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): am³, am², am¹
• Min Nan (POJ): am

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: ān
    • Zhuyin: ㄢ
    • Wade–Giles: an1
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: an
    • Tongyong Pinyin: an
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀän⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: am³, am², am¹
    • Yale: am, ám, ām
    • Cantonese Pinyin: am³, am², am¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: em³, em², em¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐm³³/, /ɐm³⁵/, /ɐm⁵⁵/

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

• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: am
    • Tâi-lô: am
    • Phofsit Daibuun: afm
    • IPA (Xiamen): /am⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /am³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /am⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /am⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /am⁴⁴/

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• Middle Chinese: /ʔʌm^H/

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
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔʌmH/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔəmH/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔɒmH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔəmH/
Li Rong	/ʔᴀmH/
Wang Li	/ɒmH/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʔămH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	àn

• 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

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

Compounds

• 嚚闇
• 庸闇
• 悠闇
• 洄闇
• 闇亂／闇乱

• 闇劣
• 闇弱 (ànruò)
• 闇淺／闇浅
• 闇然

• 闇莫
• 闇誦／闇诵
• 闇跳
• 黮闇

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–

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Japanese

Kanji

闇

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. 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

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.

See also

• 暗 (Tōyō character written in place of this character)

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”).

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) やみ​ [yàmíꜜ] (Odaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [ja̠mʲi]

Noun

闇(やみ) • (yami) 

1. the dark, darkness

Etymology 2

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

From Middle Chinese 闇 (ʔəm, “dark”).

Pronunciation

• On’yomi: Kan’on
• (Tokyo) あ​ん [áꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ã̠ɴ]

Alternative forms

• 暗

Noun

闇(あん) • (an) 

1. darkness, the dark
2. a dark place
3. (Buddhism) darkness, as a metaphor for worldly desires

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Korean

Hanja

闇 • (am) (hangeul 암, revised am, McCune–Reischauer am, Yale am)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

闇: Hán Nôm readings: ám

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