Translingual

Han character

胸 (radical 130 肉+6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 月心山大 (BPUK), four-corner 7722₀, composition ⿰月匈)

References

• KangXi: page 981, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29442
• Dae Jaweon: page 1432, character 32
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2070, character 1
• Unihan data for U+80F8

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 胸
Bamboo and silk script	Small seal script

Pronunciation

Definitions

胸

1. chest; thorax
2. breast; bosom
3. (figuratively) mind; heart of hearts; thought

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: く (ku)
• Kan’on: きょう (kyō)
• Kun: むね (mune), むな (muna)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese. Possibly the original form of mune below.^[1]

Cognate with 棟 ‎(muna, “main roofline, roof ridge”), from the underlying idea of central or main portion.^[1]

Possibly also cognate with 空, 虚 ‎(muna, “emptiness, void”), from the idea of cavity.

Seldom used in isolation even in Old Japanese. Only found as the first element of compounds in modern Japanese.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [mɯ̃ᵝna̠]

Noun

胸 ‎(hiragana むな, romaji muna)

1. chest, breast
   • 711-712, Kojiki (Kamitsumaki (“First Volume”))

     奴婆多麻能　久路岐美祁斯遠 / 麻都夫佐尓　登理與曾比 / 淤岐都登理　牟那美流登岐 / 波多多藝母　許禮婆布佐波受 / 幣都那美　　曾迩奴岐宇弖

     ぬばたまの　くろきみけしを / まつぶさに とりよそひ / おきつとり むなみるとき / はたたぎも これはふさはず / へつなみ そにだきうて

     nubatama no kuroki mikeshi o / matsubusa ni toriyosohi / oki tsu tori muna miru toki / hatatagi mo kore wa fusawazu / he tsu nami so ni dakiute

     I put on black iris-seed garments with schisandra, and though I fluff up my garments like when the ocean birds look at their chests, I say this is not good and I cast them off into the sea's waves...

2. heart, inner thoughts

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Sound shift from muna above, from the fusion of muna with the emphatic nominal particle い ‎(i): /muna i/ → /mune/. Similar to the phonetic process observed in the shift from 神 ‎(kamu, “spirit, god”, older form used in compounds) to 神 ‎(kami, newer form, used as a standalone noun).

Alternatively, may be a compound of 身 ‎(mu, “body”) +‎ 根 ‎(ne, “root”).^[1]

Cognate with 棟 ‎(mune, “main roofline, roof ridge”) and 宗, 旨 ‎(mune, “gist, main idea, primary part”), from the underlying idea of central or main portion.^[1]

Notably, 棟 and 宗 also have an older reading muna that is only used in compounds (for 宗, possibly only in place names). Meanwhile, 旨 ‎(mune) appears later in the textual record (in the Uji Shūi Monogatari of the early 1200s), and this reading is used as a standalone noun rather than in compounds. This is consistent with other nouns that have paired vowel forms, and suggests that muna is probably the original form, and that the compound derivation is a folk etymology.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) むね​ [mùnéꜜ] (Odaka - [2])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [mɯ̃ᵝne̞]

Noun

胸 ‎(hiragana むね, romaji mune)

1. chest, breast
2. heart, inner thoughts

   胸 (むね)の中 (なか)の熱 (あつ)い思 (おも)い

   mune no naka no atsui omoi

   the passion in one's heart

3. bosom, breasts

   彼女 (かのじょ)はどんな服 (ふく)を着 (き)ても胸 (むね)が目立 (めだ)ちます。

   Kanojo wa donna fuku o kite mo mune ga medachimasu.

   No matter what clothes she wears, her chest always stands out.

Derived terms

Synonyms

References

1. 1 2 3 4 5 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

Korean

Hanja

胸 • ‎(hyung) (hangeul 흉, revised hyung, McCune-Reischauer hyung, Yale hyung)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

胸 (hung, hông)

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