紅

See also 红

Translingual

Han character

紅 (radical 120 糸+3, 9 strokes, cangjie input 女火一 (VFM), four-corner 2191₀)

1. red, crimson, vermillion
2. blush, flush

References

• KangXi: page 916, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 27243
• Dae Jaweon: page 1343, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 3363, character 5
• Unihan data for U+7D05

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Cantonese

Hanzi

紅 (simplified 红, Yale hung4)

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Japanese

Kanji

紅 (grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. the color crimson, a vivid red edging towards pink

Readings

• Go'on: ぐ (gu)
• Kan'on: こう (kō)
• Kanyō'on: く (ku)
• Kun: くれない (kurenai), べに (beni), あか (aka), あか.い (aka.i), もみ (momi)
• Nanori: くれ (kure), もみ (momi)

紅 (kurenai, beni): hexadecimal color code #D71345

紅 (kurenai, beni): the safflower, Carthamus tinctorius

Etymology 1

Originally a compound of 呉 (Kure, “China”) +‎ の (no, “possessive particle”) +‎ 藍 (ai, “indigo”: by extension, “dye”). The 紅花 (benibana) plant (the safflower), from which the kurenai color dye was extracted, was brought to Japan from China.

/kure no ai/ > /kurenai/

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA: [kɯᵝɺ̠e̞na̠i]

Noun

紅 (hiragana くれない, romaji kurenai, historical hiragana くれなゐ)

1. the color crimson, a vivid red edging towards pink
2. the benibana or safflower from which this color is extracted, Carthamus tinctorius

Synonyms

• (color): 紅色 (くれないいろ, kurenai iro; べにいろ, beni iro)
• (plant): 紅花 (べにばな, ベニバナ, benibana)

紅 (beni): lipstick

紅 (beni): rouge

Etymology 2

Derivation unclear. Few native Japanese words begin with voiced plosives, suggesting that this term was borrowed. May be from Okinawan bin as in 紅型 (bingata, a type of brightly colored Okinawan dying technique), though that derivation is also unclear.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA: [be̞ni]

Noun

紅 (hiragana べに, romaji beni)

1. the color crimson, a vivid red edging towards pink
2. the benibana or safflower from which this color is extracted, Carthamus tinctorius
3. the crimson pigment extracted from the benibana, used in cosmetics and as a food coloring
4. rouge, a red cosmetic traditionally made from the benibana
5. lipstick or lip liner, also traditionally made from the benibana

Synonyms

• (color): 紅色 (くれないいろ, kurenai iro; べにいろ, beni iro)
• (plant): 紅花 (べにばな, ベニバナ, benibana)
• (pigment): 臙脂 (えんじ, enji): often slightly darker than beni
• (rouge): 頬紅 (ほおべに, hōbeni)
• (lipstick): 口紅 (くちべに, kuchibeni)

紅 (aka): hexadecimal color code #FF0000

Etymology 3

Alternate spelling for 赤 (aka, “red”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA: [a̠ka̠]

Alternative forms

• 赤, 朱, 緋

  The 赤 spelling is the most common.

Noun

紅 (hiragana あか, romaji aka)

1. the color red

   See the 赤 entry for the full list of definitions.

紅 (momi): A princess doll showing the momi kimono liner.

Etymology 4

From 揉み (momi, “kneading”, stem form of verb momu), by extension from the kneading of cloth during the dying process.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA: [mo̞mi]

Alternative forms

• 紅絹

Noun

紅 (hiragana もみ, romaji momi)

1. silk cloth dyed an even shade of one color, often a deep gold dyed again with kurenai, traditionally used as a kimono liner

Synonyms

• 本紅 (ほんもみ, honmomi)

紅 (kō): hexadecimal color code #D71345

Etymology 5

From Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA: [ko̞ː]

Noun

紅 (hiragana こう, romaji kō)

1. the kurenai color: the color crimson, a vivid red edging towards pink

Idioms

• 紅をさす (こうをさす, kō o sasu); 紅を潮す (こうをちょうす, kō o chōsu): to show the crimson ⇒ to blush or flush, to go red in the face, as from shame or anger
• 紅一点 (こういってん, kō itten): a single point of crimson ⇒ the one different thing in a field of sameness; often refers to a lone woman in a crowd of men

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Korean

Hanja

紅 (hangeul 홍, 공, revised hong, gong, McCune-Reischauer hong, kong, Yale hong, kong)

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Mandarin

simpl.		红
trad.		紅

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: [ xʊŋ˧˥ ]

Hanzi

紅 (simplified 红, pinyin gōng (gong1), hóng (hong2), jiàng (jiang4), Wade-Giles kung¹, hung², chiang⁴)

Adjective

紅 (traditional, Pinyin hóng, simplified 红)

1. (Beginning Mandarin) red

   紅茶

   红豆

   紅色

   紅棗

2. revolutionary
3. (slang) popular

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ kʊŋ˥˥ ]

Noun

紅 (traditional, Pinyin gōng, simplified 红)

1. (archaic) a substitute character for 功
2. (archaic) a substitute character for 工
   • 女紅 needlework, sewing, embroidery
3. geographical name of a location in the State of Lu (魯國) during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時期) in Chinese history, northeast of modern Taian, Shandong (山東泰安)

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ tɕiaŋ˥˩ ]

Proper noun

紅 (traditional, Pinyin jiàng, simplified 红)

1. (archaic) a substitute character for 絳

References

• 2000, Jingmin (ed.) Shao, HSK Dictionary (HSK汉语水平考试词典) (in Mandarin/English), Shanghai: Huadong Teachers College Publishers, ISBN 7561720785:
• 1998, Hanyu Da Zidian (in Mandarin), Taiwan: Jianhong Publishers, ISBN 9578134789:
• 1991, Tan, Qixiang/譚其驤 (chief ed.), The Historical Atlas of China, Volume I: The Primitive Society, Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, the Spring and Autumn, Warring States Period/中國歷史地圖集，第一冊：原史社會、夏、商、西周、春秋、戰國時期, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences/中國社會科學院 (sponsor) (in Chinese), Hong Kong, China: Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co., Ltd./三聯書店（香港）有限公司, ISBN 962-04-0909-4:

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Vietnamese

Han character

紅 (hồng, hường)