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Definition 2025

禪

禪

See also: 禅

Translingual

Simplified

 禅

Traditional

 禪

Japanese

 禅

Korean

 禅

Han character

禪 (radical 113 示+12, 17 strokes, cangjie input 戈火口口十 (IFRRJ), four-corner 36256, composition ⿰礻單)

Descendants

  • 禅 – note difference in simplified Chinese 禅 and Japanese shinjitai 禅.

References

  • KangXi: page 846, character 36
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24835
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1267, character 26
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2408, character 10
  • Unihan data for U+79AA

Chinese

trad. 禪
simp. 禅

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 禪
Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (單) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
嚲 *taːlʔ
癉 *taːlʔ, *taːls, *taːn, *daːn
奲 *taːlʔ, *tʰjaːlʔ
驒 *daːl, *daːn, *teːn
鼉 *daːl
磾 *teːl
鷤 *deːl, *deːls, *daːn
觶 *tjal, *tjals
單 *taːn, *djan, *djanʔ, *djans
鄲 *taːn
殫 *taːn
簞 *taːn
匰 *taːn
襌 *taːn
啴 *tʰaːn
彈 *daːn, *daːns
貚 *daːn, *deːn
撣 *daːn, *daːnʔ, *daːns, *djan, *taːnʔ
潬 *daːnʔ
僤 *daːnʔ, *daːns, *djan
憚 *daːns
樿 *tjanʔ
燀 *tjanʔ, *tʰjan, *tʰjanʔ
戰 *tjans
闡 *tʰjanʔ
繟 *tʰjanʔ
幝 *tʰjanʔ
嘽 *tʰjanʔ
灛 *tʰjanʔ
蟬 *djan
禪 *djan, *djans
嬋 *djan
墠 *djanʔ
鱓 *djanʔ
蕇 *teːnʔ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *djan, *djans) : semantic 示 + phonetic 單 ‎(OC *taːn, *djan, *djanʔ, *djans).

Etymology 1

Short for 禪那, which is a phonetic borrowing from Sanskrit ध्यान ‎(dhyāna, “dhyana”).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 禪
Reading # 1/2
Initial (聲) 常 (25)
Final (韻) 仙 (77)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 市連切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /d͡ʑiᴇn/
Pan
Wuyun		 /d͡ʑiɛn/
Shao
Rongfen		 /d͡ʑjæn/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /d͡ʑian/
Li
Rong		 /ʑiɛn/
Wang
Li		 /ʑĭɛn/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ʑi̯ɛn/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 chán
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 禪
Reading # 1/2
No. 2031
Phonetic
component		 單
Rime
group		 元
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 鋋
Old
Chinese		 /*djan/

Definitions

禪

  1. (Buddhism) dhyana; deep meditation; contemplation
  2. Buddhist doctrine; Buddhist teachings
  3. relating to Buddhism; Buddhist; thoughtful; philosophical

Compounds

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 禪
Reading # 2/2
Initial (聲) 常 (25)
Final (韻) 仙 (77)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 時戰切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /d͡ʑiᴇnH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /d͡ʑiɛnH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /d͡ʑjænH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /d͡ʑianH/
Li
Rong		 /ʑiɛnH/
Wang
Li		 /ʑĭɛnH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ʑi̯ɛnH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 shàn
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 禪
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 shàn
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ dzyenH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[d]ar-s/
English hand over to another

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 禪
Reading # 2/2
No. 2036
Phonetic
component		 單
Rime
group		 元
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 繕
Old
Chinese		 /*djans/

Definitions

禪

  1. to worship (nature)
  2. to abdicate
  3. to hand over
  4. to inherit

Compounds

References

Japanese

Kanji

禪

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 禅)

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Readings

Korean

Hanja

禪 • ‎(seon) (hangeul 선, revised seon, McCune-Reischauer sŏn, Yale sen)

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Vietnamese

Han character

禪 (thiền, thiện, xèng)

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