白金
Chinese
white; empty; blank white; empty; blank; bright; clear; plain; pure; gratuitous | metal; gold; money | ||
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simp. and trad. (白金) | 白 | 金 |
Pronunciation
Noun
白金
- (informal) platinum (metal)
- white gold (alloy of gold)
- (archaic) silver (especially extracted, or used as a currency)
Synonyms
- (platinum):
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- (silver): 銀子/银子 (yínzi)
Derived terms
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Descendants
- → Japanese: 白金 (hakkin)
- → Korean: 백금(白金) (baekgeum)
- → Vietnamese: bạch kim (白金)
Japanese
Chemical element | |
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Pt | |
Previous: イリジウム (irijiumu) (Ir) | |
Next: 金 (kin) (Au) |
Etymology 1
Kanji in this term | |
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白 | 金 |
はく > はっ Grade: 1 | きん Grade: 1 |
on’yomi |
Originally from Middle Chinese compound 白金 (MC bˠæk̚ kˠiɪm, “white + metal”) in reference to silver. Consider 銀 (shirogane, older shirokane, “silver”, literally “white metal”), where shiro in isolation is spelled 白 and kane in isolation is spelled 金.
Repurposed by Japanese scientist Udagawa Yōan in 1834 as a compound of 白 (haku, “white”) + 金 (kin, “gold”), in reference to the metal's description as “white gold” in earlier scientific works, such as Dutch witgoud.
Pronunciation
- On’yomi: Kan’on
- (Tokyo) はっきん [hàkkíń] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
- IPA(key): [ha̠k̚ʲkʲĩɴ]
Noun
白金 • (hakkin) ←はくきん (fakukin)?
- platinum (metal)
- (rare, possibly obsolete) silver, particularly silver powder used as a pigment
Usage notes
This reading hakkin is sometimes used erroneously to refer to white gold, due to one of the literal interpretations of the characters in the kanji spelling. The reading shirokin (see below) appears in some reference works[3] with the meaning white gold, but the borrowed term ホワイトゴールド (howaito gōrudo) is much more common.
Synonyms
- (platinum): プラチナ (purachina)
- (silver): 銀 (gin), 銀 (shirogane)
- (silver powder): 銀粉 (ginpun)
Descendants
- → Chinese: 白金
- → Korean: 백금 (baekgeum)
- → Vietnamese: bạch kim
Etymology 2
Kanji in this term | |
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白 | 金 |
しろ Grade: 1 | きん Grade: 1 |
yutōyomi |
Compound of 白 (shiro, “white”) + 金 (kin, “gold”). The use of the kun'yomi for the first character and the on'yomi for the second character points to a more recent derivation.
Pronunciation
- Yutōyomi
- IPA(key): [ɕiɾo̞kʲĩɴ]
Noun
白金 • (shirokin)
- (rare, possibly proscribed) white gold
Synonyms
- ホワイトゴールド (howaito gōrudo) (much more common)
- 白色金 (hakushokukin)
References
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
- 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.
- 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
Korean
Hanja in this term | |
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白 | 金 |
Noun
白金 • (baekgeum) (hangeul 백금)
- Hanja form? of 백금 (“platinum”).
Vietnamese
Hán tự in this term | |
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白 | 金 |
Noun
白金
- chữ Hán form of bạch kim (“platinum”).