Translingual

Han character

鎖 (radical 167 金+10, 18 strokes, cangjie input 金火月金 (CFBC), four-corner 8918₆, composition ⿰釒𧴪)

1. lock, padlock
2. shackles, chains

References

• KangXi: page 1317, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 40708
• Dae Jaweon: page 1817, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 4240, character 6
• Unihan data for U+9396

Chinese

Alternative forms

• 鎻

Pronunciation

Definitions

鎖

1. to lock

   鎖門 / 锁门  ―  suǒmén  ―  to lock the doors

2. a lock; a padlock

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 鎻)

Readings

• Goon: さ (sa)
• Kan’on: さ (sa)
• Kan’yōon: じょう (jō), from じやう (jau)
• Kun: くさり (kusari), さ.す (鎖す, sa.su), とざ.す (鎖す, toza.su), つが.る (鎖る, tsuga.ru)

Etymology 1

Noun derived from the 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “stem form”) of verb 鏈る ‎(kusaru, “to be linked together, to link together”).^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) くさり [kùsárí] (Heiban - [0])^[2][3]
• (Tokyo) くさり​ [kùsáríꜜ] (Odaka - [3])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̥ᵝsa̠ɾi]

Alternative forms

• 鐺, 鏈, 鉧, 鏁

Noun

鎖 ‎(hiragana くさり, romaji kusari)

1. a chain

Derived terms

• 鎖鎌 (くさりがま) ‎(kusarigama): a chain sickle
• 鎖分銅 (くさりふんどう) ‎(kusari fundō): a weighted chain

Related terms

• 鏈 (くさ)る ‎(kusaru): to be linked together, to link together

Etymology 2

Noun derived from the 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “stem form”) of verb 鎖す ‎(tozasu, “to shut and lock a door or gate”).^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [to̞za̠ɕi]

Noun

鎖 ‎(hiragana とざし, romaji tozashi)

1. the closing and locking of a door or gate
2. a door or gate so closed and locked
3. a bar or other device used to lock a door or gate

Related terms

• 鎖す, 閉ざす (とざす, ​tozasu): to close and lock a door or gate

Etymology 3

Noun derived from the 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “stem form”) of verb 連る ‎(tsugaru, “to continue, to lead onto the next, to be connected; to connect or link together”).^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɯᵝɡ̃a̠ɾi]

Alternative forms

• 鎖り, 連, 連り, 繋り, 綴り, 縋り

Noun

鎖 ‎(hiragana つがり, romaji tsugari)

1. a connection, linkage, or continuation
2. (rare) a chain
3. a string of items tied together
4. the part of the opening of a drawstring bag through which the string is passed

Related terms

• 鎖る, 連る, 繋る, 綴る, 縋る (tsugaru): to continue, to lead onto the next, to be connected; to connect or link together

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 鎻 or 鎖 ‎(*swa^X). Compare modern simplified Mandarin 锁 ‎(suǒ, “lock, padlock; shackles, chains”).

Only used in compounds in modern Japanese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): [sa̠]

Affix

鎖 ‎(hiragana さ, romaji sa)

1. a chain, linkage, or continuation
2. a lock or barrier

Derived terms

Etymology 5

Alteration from sau, itself an alternate reading of sa above, possibly influenced by an early variety of Mandarin reading suǒ or Cantonese reading so².^[1] The shift from sau to jau (modern jō) was probably the influence of the reading of synonymous character 錠 (jō).

/sa/ → /sau/ → /d͡ʑau/ → /d͡ʑoː/

Pronunciation

• Kan'yōyomi
• (Tokyo) じょう [jòó] (Heiban - [0])^[2][3]
• (Tokyo) じょ​う [jóꜜò] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑo̞ː]

Alternative forms

• 錠

Noun

鎖 ‎(hiragana じょう, romaji jō, historical hiragana ぢやう)

1. (pitch 0) a metal bar used to lock shut a gate, door, chest, or other opening
2. (pitch 0) a key used to lock or unlock such an opening
3. (pitch 1) a pill or tablet

Usage notes

The senses have different pitch accents. A low starting pitch is used for the lock or key meanings, while a high starting pitch is used for the pill or tablet meanings.

The alternate spelling 錠 was originally an ateji, but in reference to openings, the meaning was limited to key, while the lock sense was spelled 鎖. In modern Japanese, these characters are largely interchangeable for both lock and key senses. However, the more common term for key is 鍵 (kagi).

The pill sense is more commonly spelled 錠.

Counter

鎖 ‎(hiragana じょう, romaji -jō, historical hiragana ぢやう)

1. counter for pills or tablets

   この薬 (くすり)は一回 (いっかい)に三 (さん)鎖 (じょう)とのことです。

   Kono kusuri wa ikkai ni sanjō to no koto desu.

   The instructions are to take three pills of this medicine for each dose.

Usage notes

More commonly spelled 錠.

References

1. 1 2 3 4 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

鎖 • ‎(swae) (hangeul 쇄, revised swae, McCune-Reischauer swae, Yale sway)

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Vietnamese

Han character

鎖 (toả, khoá, soã, tuả, xoã)

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