囧

See also 冏

Translingual

Etymology

Pictogram (象形). Variant characters: 冏, 臦, 臩.

Han character

囧 (radical 31 囗+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 田金月 (WCB), four-corner 6022₇)

Descendants

• 朙, 莔, 𥁰

References

• KangXi: page 217, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4707
• Dae Jaweon: page 444, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 715, character 12
• Unihan data for U+56E7

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Cantonese

Pronunciation

• (Guangzhou) IPA: /kʷɪŋ³⁵/

• Audio (Guangzhou Yue)

  (file)

Hanzi

囧 (Yale gwing2)

1. Same as #Mandarin.

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Japanese

Kanji

囧

Readings

• On: けい (kei), きょう (kyō)
• Kun: あきらか (akiraka)

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Korean

Hanja

囧 (hangeul 경, revised gyeong, McCune-Reischauer kyŏng)

1. (빛나다) bright
2. (밝다) clear
3. (새가 나는 모양) the appearance of birds flying
4. (창) window

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Mandarin

FWOTD - 2 March 2013

simpl. and trad.
囧

Pronunciation

• (Beijing) IPA: /ʨi̯ʊŋ˨˩˦/

• Audio (Mandarin Chinese)

  (file)

Hanzi

囧 (pinyin jiǒng (jiong3), Wade-Giles chiung³)

1. patterned window; a clear and bright window; shining, brightness

   《說文‧囧部》：“囧，窗牖麗廔闓明，象形。”

   Shuowen Jiezi: "Jiong — An open and light window. Pictographic."

   《文選‧江淹〈雜體詩‧效張綽“雜述”〉》：“囧囧秋月明，憑軒詠堯老。”

   Jiang Yan, "Miscellaneous Poems — Imitation of Zhang Chuo's 'Miscellaneous Writing'", from the anthology of Wen Xuan: "The moonlight at an autumn night was brightly clean; I leaned on the railing, chanting poems and savouring the logics of the ancient sages (lit. of Yao and Laozi)."

2. (neologism, slang, humorous) an emoticon expressing surprise, shock, embarrassment, helplessness or awkwardness

   新華網《眾名人爆料高考囧事》：“而那些生活在光環中的明星和名人們，曾經也有過類似的經歷，他們難忘的往事中也不乏趣聞和囧事…… 李想在高三時選擇放棄高考，卻成功創業，身價上億。”

   Xinhua, "Celebrities reveal their embarrassing moments before/at the University Entrance Examination": "The celebrities and notabilities now living under spotlights used to have similar experiences; there was no lack of amusing anecdotes and embarrassing moments in their unforgettable pasts ... Li Xiang dropped out of school during the third year of high school, choosing not to take the University Entrance Examination. Instead, he successfully started an enterprise, now worth hundreds of millions."

Usage notes

An emoticon used to express helplessness or awkwardness, usually in a humourous way. This usage gained popularity on Taiwanese forums (aka "BBS"), then spread through the media to Hong Kong, and eventually to Mainland China. Its meaning was influenced by the homophonic character (in Beijing Mandarin) 窘 ("hard-pressed; embarrassed").

Synonyms

• Orz
• 囧rz
• 囧rz=3

References

• "2008年度十大新词" (in Mandarin), kenengba.com. URL accessed on 2009-09-15.