Definify.com

Definition 2024


U+516C, 公
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-516C

[U+516B]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+516D]

Translingual

Stroke order
Stroke order

Han character

(radical 12 +2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 金戈 (CI), four-corner 80732, composition)

References

  • KangXi: page 126, character 28
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1452
  • Dae Jaweon: page 277, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 242, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+516C

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script





References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (large seal) and
  • Xu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*qroːŋʔ
*kluːnʔ
*kluːnʔ
*kluːnʔ
*kluːnʔ
*sʰloːŋ
*sqʰloːŋs, *sqʰluːŋ, *skʰloŋ, *sqʰloŋ
*sqʰloːŋs, *sqʰloŋ, *sɢloŋ
*kloːŋ
*kloːŋ, *kljoŋ
*qloːŋ
*qloːŋ
*qloːŋ, *qloːŋʔ
*qloːŋ
*qloːŋʔ
*qloːŋʔ
*qloːŋʔ
*qloːŋʔ
*qloːŋs
*sqʰluŋ
*sqʰluŋ
*sqʰluŋ
*sqʰloŋ, *sɢloŋ
*sqʰloŋ
*sqʰloŋ
*sɢloŋ
*sɢloŋ, *sɢloŋs
*sɢloŋs, *loŋ
*kljoŋ
*kljoŋ
*kljoŋ
*kljoŋ
*kljoŋ
*kljoŋ
*kljoŋ, *lon
A from the Longshan culture (also called Black Pottery Culture) [3000 – 1900 BC].

The traditional interpretation as given by Han Feizi is that is a compound of (= (“to deviate; opposite”)) and (original form of (“individual; private”)), i.e. the opposite of “individual”; public. This theory is supported by Sun Yirang and Qiang Kaiyun, despite the somewhat different shape of the top component from .

This is disputed in modern times by Gao Hongjin, who thinks that the on top stands for (“to divide; to distribute”) and the bottom round component of symbolises the general object. thus represents “equally dividing resources so that they are communal”.

Another theory put forth by Zhu Fangpu is that is a pictogram (象形) , being the original form of (OC *qloːŋs, “a wide-mouthed round-bottomed jar”), and later borrowed for the meaning of “public”.

Pronunciation



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /kuŋ⁵⁵/
Harbin /kuŋ⁴⁴/
Tianjin /kuŋ²¹/
Jinan /kuŋ²¹³/
Qingdao /kəŋ²¹³/
Zhengzhou /kuŋ²⁴/
Xi'an /kuŋ²¹/
Xining /kuə̃⁴⁴/
Yinchuan /kuŋ⁴⁴/
Lanzhou /kũn³¹/
Ürümqi /kuŋ⁴⁴/
Wuhan /koŋ⁵⁵/
Chengdu /koŋ⁵⁵/
Guiyang /koŋ⁵⁵/
Kunming /koŋ/
Nanjing /koŋ³¹/
Hefei /kəŋ²¹/
Jin Taiyuan /kuəŋ¹¹/
Pingyao /kuŋ¹³/
Hohhot /kũŋ³¹/
Wu Shanghai /koŋ⁵³/
Suzhou /koŋ⁵⁵/
Hangzhou /koŋ³³/
Wenzhou /koŋ³³/
Hui Shexian /kuʌ̃³¹/
Tunxi /kan¹¹/
Xiang Changsha /koŋ³³/
Xiangtan /kən³³/
Gan Nanchang /kuŋ⁴²/
Hakka Meixian /kuŋ⁴⁴/
Taoyuan /kuŋ²⁴/
Cantonese Guangzhou /koŋ⁵³/
Nanning /kuŋ⁵⁵/
Hong Kong /kuŋ⁵⁵/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /kiɔŋ⁵⁵/
/kaŋ⁵⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /kuŋ⁴⁴/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /kɔŋ⁵⁴/
Shantou (Min Nan) /koŋ³³/
/kaŋ³³/
Haikou (Min Nan) /koŋ²³/
/kaŋ²³/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (28)
Final () (1)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () I
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/kuŋ/
Pan
Wuyun
/kuŋ/
Shao
Rongfen
/kuŋ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/kəwŋ/
Li
Rong
/kuŋ/
Wang
Li
/kuŋ/
Bernard
Karlgren
/kuŋ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
gōng
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
gōng gōng
Middle
Chinese
‹ kuwng › ‹ kuwng ›
Old
Chinese
/*C.qˤoŋ/ /*C.qˤoŋ/
English impartial, just; public father; prince

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 4092
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*kloːŋ/

Definitions

  1. public; communal
    Antonyms: ()
  2. fair; equitable
  3. duke
  4. (unit) of the International System
       gōng   kilometer
       gōngchǐ   meter
  5. (of animals) male
    Antonyms: ()

Compounds


Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Noun

(hiragana おおやけ, romaji ōyake, historical hiragana おほやけ)

  1. official, governmental

(hiragana こう, romaji )

  1. prince, duke

Pronoun

(hiragana きみ, romaji kimi)

  1. Alternative form of

Korean

Hanja

(gong)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul):  (McCune-Reischauer: kong)
  • Name (hangeul): 공변될()
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

(công)

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