藍

Translingual

Alternative forms

• 蓝

Han character

藍 (radical 140 艸+14, 20 strokes, cangjie input 廿尸戈廿 (TSIT), 廿尸一廿 (TSMT), four-corner 4410₇, composition ⿱艹監)

1. blue
2. indigo plant
3. used as a surname

References

• KangXi: page 1064, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32258
• Dae Jaweon: page 1528, character 35
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 3311, character 8
• Unihan data for U+85CD

---

Cantonese

Hanzi

藍 (jyutping laam4, Yale laam4)

---

Japanese

Kanji

藍 (common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. The color indigo; the indigo plant.

Readings

• On: らん (ran)
• Kun: あい (ai)
• Nanori: あい (ai)

Compounds

Compounds

藍玉 (らんぎょく, rangyoku): aquamarine (gem) 藍玉 (あいだま, aidama): an indigo ball 藍色 (あいいろ, aiiro; らんしょく, ranshoku): the color indigo: dark blue 藍鼠 (あいねずみ, ainezumi): bluish gray 藍靛 (らんじょう, ranjō): indigo

Etymology

Various theories, all suggesting a relation to 青 (ao, formerly awo, “blue”).

• May be an alteration from 青色 (awoiro): /awoiro/ > /awiro/ > /airo/ > /ai/
• May simply be an alteration from 青 (awo): /awo/ > /awi/ > /ai/
• May be derived from a compound of 青 (awo, “blue”) +‎ 居 (i, formerly wi, “there is”), expressing the sense that the plant contains the color blue: /awowi/ > /awi/ > /ai/

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA: [a̠i]

Noun

藍 (hiragana あい, romaji ai, historical hiragana あゐ)

1. the color indigo
2. the indigo plant, species Indigofera tinctoria and related plants

Proper noun

藍 (hiragana あい, romaji Ai)

1. A female given name

---

Korean

Hanja

藍 (hangeul 람>남, revised ram>nam, McCune-Reischauer ram>nam, Yale lam>nam)

---

Mandarin

Hanzi

藍 (pinyin lán (lan2), Wade-Giles lan²)

• Style: Traditional Chinese
  • Simplified equivalent: 蓝

Compounds

• 藍圖

---

Vietnamese

Han character

藍 (lam, chàm, rôm, rườm, trôm, xám)

References

• Nom Foundation