闇

闇

See also: 暗 and 𬮴

闇 U+95C7, 闇 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-95C7 ← 闆 [U+95C6] CJK Unified Ideographs 闈 → [U+95C8]

Translingual

Han character

闇 (Kangxi radical 169, 門+9, 17 strokes, cangjie input 日弓卜廿日 (ANYTA), four-corner 7760₁, composition ⿵門音)

1. close, shut
2. dark, dismal

References

• KangXi: page 1338, character 22
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41421
• Dae Jaweon: page 1843, character 34
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4309, character 7
• Unihan data for U+95C7

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Chinese

trad.		闇
simp.		𬮴

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 闇
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (音) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
諳	*qɯːm
腤	*qɯːm
嬜	*qɯːm, *qʰaːm, *qʰrɯm
喑	*qɯːm, *qrɯm, *qrɯms
揞	*qɯːmʔ, *qrɯːms
隌	*qɯːmʔ, *qrɯm
罯	*qɯːmʔ, *qɯːb
暗	*qɯːms
闇	*qɯːms
黯	*qrɯːm, *qrɯːmʔ
歆	*qʰrɯm
愔	*qɯm
韾	*qɯm
音	*qrɯm
瘖	*qrɯm
窨	*qrɯms
湆	*kʰrɯb

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qɯːms) : semantic 門／门 + phonetic 音 (OC *qrɯm).

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): àn (an⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄢˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): am³, am²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: àn
    • Zhuyin: ㄢˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: àn
    • Wade–Giles: an⁴
    • Yale: àn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ann
    • Palladius: ань (anʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀän⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: am³, am²
    • Yale: am, ám
    • Cantonese Pinyin: am³, am²
    • Guangdong Romanization: em³, em²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐm³³/, /ɐm³⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

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• Middle Chinese: /ʔʌm^H/

Rime
Character	闇
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)
Final (韻)	覃 (159)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	烏紺切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔʌmH/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔəmH/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔɒmH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔəmH/
Li Rong	/ʔᴀmH/
Wang Li	/ɒmH/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʔămH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	àn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	am3

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*qɯːms/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	闇
Reading #	1/1
No.	15214
Phonetic component	音
Rime group	侵
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	暗
Old Chinese	/*qɯːms/

Definitions

闇

1. to close the door
2. night; dusk; eclipse
3. Alternative form of 暗 (àn, “dark; secret; ignorant”).

Compounds

嚚闇／嚚暗 庸闇／庸暗 悠闇／悠暗 洄闇／洄暗 闇亂／暗乱

闇劣／暗劣 闇弱／暗弱 闇淺／暗浅 闇然／暗然

闇莫／暗莫 闇誦／暗诵 闇跳／暗跳 黮闇／黮暗

Pronunciation 2

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ān (an¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): am¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: ān
    • Zhuyin: ㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: an
    • Wade–Giles: an¹
    • Yale: ān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: an
    • Palladius: ань (anʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀän⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: am¹
    • Yale: ām
    • Cantonese Pinyin: am¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: em¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐm⁵⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

Definitions

闇

1. room for mourning the death of a ruler
2. Alternative form of 諳／谙 (ān, “to fully understand”).

Compounds

諒闇／谅暗

Pronunciation 3

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yǎn (yan³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄢˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǎn
    • Wade–Giles: yen³
    • Yale: yǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yean
    • Palladius: янь (janʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn²¹⁴/

Definitions

闇

1. Alternative form of 奄 (yǎn, “suddenly”).

References

• “闇”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學／香港中文大学 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

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Japanese

Shinjitai	闇
Kyūjitai [1][2]	闇󠄂 闇+󠄂? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

闇

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. dark, darkness

Readings

• Go-on: おん (on)^{←おん (on, historical)←おむ (omu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: あん (an)^{←あん (an, historical)←あむ (amu, ancient)}
• Kun: やみ (yami, 闇, Jōyō); くらい (kurai, 闇い)

Compounds

Compounds

• 闇夜(あんや) (an'ya): a dark night, a night with no moon; a dark and depressing outlook
• 闇(やみ)夜(よ) (yamiyo): a dark night, a night with no moon

Usage notes

Added to the jōyō kanji list on 30 November 2010; previously classified as jinmeiyō kanji.

See also

• 暗 (Tōyō character written in place of this character)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
闇
やみ Grade: S
kun’yomi

From Old Japanese. Ultimate roots uncertain. May be cognate with 病む (yamu, “to be ill”), 止む (yamu, “to stop, to quit”), 黄泉 (yomi, “land of the dead”).

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) やみ​ [yàmíꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[3][4]
• IPA^(key): [ja̠mʲi]

Noun

闇(やみ) • (yami) 

1. the dark, darkness

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
闇
あん Grade: S
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 闇 (MC ʔʌm^H, “dark”).

Alternative forms

• 暗

Pronunciation

• On’yomi: Kan’on
• (Tokyo) あ​ん [áꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[4]
• IPA^(key): [ã̠ɴ]

Noun

闇(あん) • (an) 

1. darkness, the dark
2. a dark place
3. (Buddhism) darkness, as a metaphor for worldly desires

References

1. 1914, 漢和大辭書 (Kanwa Dai Jisho, “The Great Kanji-Japanese Dictionary”) (in Japanese), page 2224 (paper), page 1164 (digital), Tōkyō: 興文社 (Kōbunsha)
2. 1927, 新漢和辭典 (Shin Kanwa Jiten, “The New Kanji-Japanese Dictionary”) (in Japanese), page 1293 (paper), page 659 (digital), Ōsaka: 松雲堂 (Shōundō)
3. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
4. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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Korean

Hanja

闇 • (am) (hangeul 암, revised am, McCune–Reischauer am, Yale am)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

闇: Hán Nôm readings: ám

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