藍

Translingual

Alternative forms

• 蓝

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 艹 (“grass”) + phonetic 監: The indigo plant

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)

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

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Chinese

		-
trad.		藍
simp.		蓝

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lán (lan²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): laam⁴
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): làm
• Min Nan (POJ): lâm
• Wu (WT Romanisation): le (T3)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: lán
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄢˊ
    • Wade-Giles: lan²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lan
    • IPA ^(key): /la̠n³⁵/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: laam⁴
    • Yale: làahm
    • Cantonese Pinyin: laam⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /lɑːm²¹/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: làm
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /lam¹¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lâm
    • Tâi-lô: lâm
    • IPA (Taipei): /lam²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /lam¹³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: le (T3)
    • IPA ^(key): /lᴇ²³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (藍, reconstructed)
Character (藍), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 來 (37) Final: 談 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 魯甘切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/lɑm/	/lɑm/	/lɑm/	/lɑm/	/lam/	/lɑm/	/lɑm/

Old Chinese pronunciation (藍, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
藍								lán								‹ lam ›								/*[N-k.]rˤam/								indigo
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
藍					6082					監					談					1					藍					/*ɡ·raːm/

Definitions

藍

1. blue

   藍色 / 蓝色  ―  lánsè  ―  blue color

2. indigo plant; Indigofera tinctoria
3. A surname​. Lan

Compounds

Derived terms

• 藍圖／蓝图

• 藍天／蓝天

• 藍寶石／蓝宝石

• 藍晶晶／蓝晶晶

• 藍本／蓝本

• 藍湛湛／蓝湛湛

• 藍瑩瑩／蓝莹莹

• 藍田生玉／蓝田生玉

• 藍皮書／蓝皮书

• 藍盈盈／蓝盈盈

• 藍礬／蓝矾

• 藍色／蓝色

• 藍藻／蓝藻

• 藍閃閃／蓝闪闪

• 藍靛／蓝靛

• 藍領／蓝领

• 藍鯨／蓝鲸

• 藍黑／蓝黑

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Japanese

Kanji

藍

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. The color indigo; the indigo plant.

Readings

• Goon: らん (ran)
• Kan’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); 藍色 (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

Kanji in this term

藍

あい Grade: S

kun'yomi

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^(key): [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

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Korean

Hanja

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

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

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Vietnamese

Han character

藍 (lam, chàm, rôm, rườm, trôm, xám)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

References

• Nom Foundation