Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

行 (radical 144 行+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 竹人一一弓 (HOMMN), four-corner 2122₁, composition ⿰彳亍)

1. Kangxi radical #144, ⾏ ‎(“walk enclosure”).

Usage notes

行 itself is also used as a radical (in addition to 彳); unusually for radicals, the phonetic is placed in the middle – with 彳 on the left and 亍 on the right – corresponding to the phonetic originally being placed at the middle of the intersection.

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/行
• 鵆

References

• KangXi: page 1108, character 31
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34029
• Dae Jaweon: page 1570, character 31
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 811, character 6
• Unihan data for U+884C

Chinese

Glyph origin

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

Pictogram (象形) – a street intersection.

Originally symmetric, it has been simplified asymmetrically; the left half 彳 is widely used as a radical, while the right half 亍 finds occasional use, and the character can be broken up as 彳 ‎(“small step”) + 亍, though originally it was not a compound.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

行

1. (literary or dialectal) to walk
2. to go; to move
3. to carry out; to execute
4. to perform (a salute)
5. OK; good

   行，就這麼定了。 / 行，就这么定了。  ―  Xíng, jiù zhème dìng le.  ―  OK, it's a deal.

6. to be good; to work

   我覺得這方法行。 / 我觉得这方法行。  ―  Wǒ juéde zhè fāngfǎ xíng.  ―  I think this will work.

7. to be good (opposed to bad) (usually in negative sentences, or with 還)

   我成績不行。 / 我成绩不行。  ―  Wǒ chéngjī bù xíng.  ―  I have bad grades.

8. to be able to do something (usually mentioned before)
   • 他能四分鐘跑一公里，我不行。 [MSC, trad.]
     他能四分钟跑一公里，我不行。 [MSC, simp.]

     Tā néng sì fēnzhōng pǎo yī gōnglǐ, wǒ bù xíng. [Pinyin]

     He can run a kilometer within 4 minutes. I can't (do that).

Usage notes

Notice that when meaning “be able to do something”, 行 can only be used without a complement. This is different from 能 (néng, “to be able to (do something)”).

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

行

1. profession; industry; trade; business
2. place for specific transaction

   銀行 / 银行  ―  yínháng  ―  bank [lit. money store]

   珠寶行 / 珠宝行  ―  zhūbǎoháng  ―  jewellery store

3. line of objects; row

Compounds

Pronunciation 3

Definitions

行

1. behaviour; conduct

Compounds

Pronunciation 4

Definitions

行

1. skill from monk training

   道行  ―  dàohéng  ―  monk training

Pronunciation 5

Definitions

行

1. ^†Only used in 行行 (“bold; staunch; strong”).
2. Only used in 樹行子／树行子 (“row of trees”).

References

• (Min Nan) “Entry #2617”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

Japanese

Noun

行 ‎(hiragana ぎょう, romaji gyō, historical hiragana ぎやう)

1. a line of text
2. (mathematics) a row of a matrix

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: ぎょう (gyō) > ぎやう (gyau), ごう (gō) > がう (gau)
• Kan’on: こう (kō) > かう (kau)
• Tōon: あん (an)
• Kan’yōon: ぎょう (gyō) > ぎやう (gyau) in the sense “row, line”, etc.
• Kun: いく (行く iku), ゆく (行く yuku), おこなう (行う 行なう okonau, くだり)
• Nanori: ゆき (yuki)

Compounds

Korean

Hanja

行 • ‎(haeng)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 행 (revised: haeng, McCune-Reischauer: haeng, Yale: hayng)

• Name (hangeul): 다닐 행()

1. movement

行 • ‎(hang)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 항 (revised: hang, McCune-Reischauer: hang, Yale: hang)

• Name (hangeul): 항렬 항()

1. degree of familial relation

Compounds

• (movement): 행동
• (degree of relation): 항렬

Vietnamese

Han character

行 (hàng, hạnh, hành, ngành, hãng, hăng, tùng)

1. company, firm
2. (archaic) to go, to travel (on a long journey).

Compounds

• 行客 ‎(hành khách)
• 行李 ‎(hành lý)
• 銀行 ‎(ngân hàng)