鰹

See also: 鲣

鰹 U+9C39, 鰹 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9C39 ← 鰸 [U+9C38] CJK Unified Ideographs 鰺 → [U+9C3A]

Translingual

Han character

鰹 (Kangxi radical 195, 魚+11, 22 strokes, cangjie input 弓火尸水土 (NFSEG), four-corner 2731₄, composition ⿰魚堅)

1. a skipjack tuna, a bonito, Katsuwonus pelamis (Japanese)
2. a great eel (Classical Chinese)
3. a kind of shark

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1477, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 46437
• Dae Jaweon: page 2008, character 28
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4709, character 14
• Unihan data for U+9C39

Chinese

trad.		鰹
simp.		鲣

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (臣) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
臤	*kʰaːn, *kʰriːn, *ɡiːn, *kʰins
掔	*kʰriːn, *kʰiːn
慳	*kʰriːn
藖	*ɡriːn, *ɡriːns
堅	*kiːn
鋻	*kiːn, *kiːns
鰹	*kiːn
蜸	*kʰiːnʔ
菣	*kʰiːns, *kʰins
賢	*ɡiːn
礥	*ɡiːn, *ɢrin
臔	*ɡiːnʔ
挋	*kiŋs
臣	*ɡiŋ
茞	*ɡiŋ
腎	*ɡjinʔ
頣	*hŋiŋʔ
緊	*kinʔ
嚚	*ŋɡriŋ
鏗	*kʰreːŋ
摼	*kʰreːŋ
硻	*kʰreːŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kiːn) : semantic 魚 + phonetic 堅 (OC *kiːn).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jiān (jian¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gin¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): kian

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: jiān
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jian
    • Wade–Giles: chien¹
    • Yale: jyān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jian
    • Palladius: цзянь (czjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: gin¹
    • Yale: gīn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gin¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: gin¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kiːn⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kian
    • Tâi-lô: kian
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kiefn
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kiɛn⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kiɛn³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kiɛn⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kiɛn⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kiɛn⁴⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: ken

Rime
Character	鰹
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	先 (85)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	古賢切
Baxter	ken
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ken/
Pan Wuyun	/ken/
Shao Rongfen	/kɛn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kɛn/
Li Rong	/ken/
Wang Li	/kien/
Bernard Karlgren	/kien/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	jiān
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gin1

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*kiːn/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	鰹
Reading #	1/1
No.	1332
Phonetic component	臣
Rime group	眞
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	堅
Old Chinese	/*kiːn/
Notes	見爾雅

Definitions

鰹

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

Compounds

• 鰹魚／鲣鱼
• 鰹魚花／鲣鱼花
• 鰹鳥／鲣鸟 (jiānniǎo)

 

Japanese

Kanji

鰹

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. skipjack tuna, oceanic bonito

Readings

• Go-on: けん (ken)
• Kan-on: けん (ken)
• Kun: かつお (katsuo, 鰹)^{←かつを (katwo, 鰹, historical)}

Etymology

Kanji in this term
鰹
かつお Hyōgaiji
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
堅魚 松魚

From Old Japanese katuwo. Found in the Man'yōshū of 759.

/katuwo/ → /kat͡suwo/ → /kat͡suo/

Two possible derivations:

• A shift from a compound of 堅 (kata-, stem meaning "firm, hard") +‎ 魚 (uo, “fish”), from the long-standing practice of drying lower-grade tuna into hard blocks, in part due to the common presence of parasites. A folk etymology also derives this kanji character, compare 木工 → 杢 (moku, “woodworker”, archaic) and 麻呂 → 麿 (maro, first-person pronoun, archaic).
• A shift from a compound of 勝つ (katsu, “to win”) +‎ 魚 (uo, “fish”).

Considering the rules of Old Japanese phonology, specifically that two vowels are not allowed in sequence, resulting in elision or fusion, the kata + uo → katuo shift seems likely.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かつお [kàtsúó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠t͡sɨᵝo̞]

Noun

鰹(かつお) or 鰹(カツオ) • (katsuo) ^{←かつを (katwo) or カツヲ (katwo)?}

1. a skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis
2. Short for 鰹木 (katsuogi): a log on the roof of a shrine set perpendicular to the ridgepole
3. Short for 鰹節 (katsuobushi): smoked and dried skipjack tuna
4. (obsolete) Short for 鰹虫 (katsuomushi): a biting midge; a water strider

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 秋(あき)鰹(がつお) (akigatsuo, “bonito caught in autumn”, obscure)
• 鰹(かつお)木(ぎ) (katsuogi, “shrine log”)
• 鰹(カツオ)鯨(クジラ) (katsuokujira, “Eden's whale, Bryde's whale”, Balaenoptera edeni)
• 鰹(かつお)だし, 鰹(かつお)出汁(だし), 鰹(かつお)出(だ)し (katsuodashi, “(dried) bonito stock”)
• 鰹(カツオ)鳥(ドリ) (katsuodori, “brown booby”, Sula leucogaster)
• 鰹(かつお)の烏(え)帽(ぼ)子(し) (katsuo no eboshi, “Portuguese man-of-war”, Physalia physalis)
• 鰹節(かつぶし) (katsubushi), 鰹(かつ)節(おぶし) (katsuobushi, “katsuobushi”)
• 鰹(かつお)味噌(みそ) (katsuomiso, “miso mixed with bonito”)
• 縞(シマ)鰹(ガツオ) (shimagatsuo, “Pacific pomfret”, Brama japonica)
• 宗(ソウ)太(ダ)鰹(ガツオ) (sōdagatsuo, “frigate tuna”, genus Auxis spp.)
• 歯(ハ)鰹(ガツオ) (hagatsuo, “striped bonito”, Sarda orientalis)
• 初松(はつ)魚(がつお), 初(はつ)鰹(がつお) (hatsugatsuo, “first bonito of the season”)
• 花(はな)鰹(かつお) (hanakatsuo), 花(はな)鰹(がつお) (hanagatsuo, “dried bonito shavings​”)
• 真(マ)魚(ナ)鰹(ガツオ) (managatsuo, a species of butterfish, Pampus punctatissimus)

Descendants

• New Latin: Katsuwonus

Proper noun

鰹(かつお) • (katsuo) ^{←かつを (katwo)?}

1. a surname

Further reading

• Entry at Nihon Jiten (in Japanese)
• Entry at Gogen Yurai Jiten ("Etymology Derivation Dictionary", in Japanese)

Korean

Hanja

鰹 • (gyeon) (hangeul 견, revised gyeon, McCune–Reischauer kyŏn, Yale kyen)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

鰹: Hán Nôm readings: kiên

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