青

See also 靑

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• 靑

Etymology

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 生 (“growth of plants”) + 丹 (“cinnabar”) – 生 represents growing plants. Cinnabar was used for dying items red, implying color which red stands as the most representative form of. Giving the meaning "color of growing plants", hence green.

Top component is cognate to 生 (“grass”), but bottom component now resembles the unrelated 月 (“moon”).

Han character

青 (radical 174 靑+0, 8 strokes, cangjie input 手一月 (QMB), four-corner 5022₇)

1. green, blue, black, azure
2. young
3. clear

Descendants

• Index:Chinese radical/靑
• 清 (凊), 菁, 請 (请), 晴, 蜻, 精, 倩, 崝, 𩇕, 猜, 靖, 情, 婧, 綪

See also

• 責 素

References

• KangXi: not present, would follow page 1381, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 42564
• Dae Jaweon: page 1893, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 4046, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9752

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Cantonese

For general use see Mandarin section. In Cantonese the use of "青" to mean black is still used in circumstances were to use "黑" would be inauspicious as it is a homophone of "乞" or beggar, so for example "黑衣" used to describe clothing would be a homophone of both beggar and a beggar's garment.

Hanzi

青 (jyutping ceng1, cing1, Yale cheng1, ching1)

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Hakka

Hanzi

青 (POJ tshiang, Guangdong ts'iang¹; tsiang¹ [Dongguan], Hagfa Pinyim qiang1, qiang4)

References

• CCDICT (Chineselanguage.org)
• Academia Sinica - Hakka-English Dictionary
• Lau, Chun-fat. Hakka Pinyin Dictionary (Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997 (Chinese IME supplement) ISBN 962-201-750-9.

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Japanese

Etymology 1

awo > ao. Possibly sawo > awo > ao.

Pronunciation

• Standard Accent: あ​お (Atamadaka), IPA: /aꜜ.o/, [ä˦.o̞˨]

• あお

  (file)

Noun

青 (hiragana あお, romaji ao, historical hiragana あを)

1. blue
2. the black, bluish color of a horse's hair; also, such a horse
   • 1603–1604: Nippo Jisho (page 39)

     Auo. アヲ (青) 馬の毛色で, 全体に黒くて青みがあり, 両耳の内側に多少白いところのあるもの. この部分の毛も他の部分と同じようにすっかり黒い時には, Curo(黒)と呼ばれる.

3. green (traffic-light green is referred to as ao, as are plant leaves.)

Related terms

• 青い(aoi)

Etymology 2

sawo > sao. s- is often taken as a prefix to avoid vowel clusters, but it was probably the older form. Seen also in same and shine.

Noun

青 (hiragana さお, romaji sao, historical hiragana さを)

1. blue

Derived terms

• 真青 (masao)
• 真っ青 (massao)

Etymology 3

Noun

青 (hiragana しい, romaji shii)

1. a beast that looks like a weasel, and is said to have lived in present Fukuoka and Yamaguchi
2. a beast that looks like a wolf, and is said to have appeared in Mt. Yoshino

Kanji

青 (grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On: せい (sei), しょう (shō)
• Kun: あお (ao), あおい (青い, aoi)

Compounds

青海原 青馬 青黴 青桐 青草 青臭い 青写真 青筋 青空 青田 青大将 青菜に塩 青二才 青虫

青物 青雲の志 青眼 青酸 青山 青磁 青春 青天 青天の霹靂 青天白日 青銅 青年 青嵐 青龍刀 刺青 (いれずみ, irezumi)

References

• 1980 May 24 [1603–1604], Tadao Doi, Hōyaku Nippo Jisho (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-0008-0021-3:

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Korean

Hanja

青
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 청 (revised: cheong, McCune-Reischauer: ch'ŏng, Yale: cheng)

• Name (hangeul): 푸를()

1. blue; green

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Mandarin

Hanzi

青 (pinyin qīng (qing1), Wade-Giles ch'ing¹)

1. green; if about grass, plants, mountain etc.
2. blue; if about the sky, a stone etc.
3. black; if about hair, cloth etc.
4. young.

Usage notes

The meaning for blue and black of "青" is more commonly used in classical Chinese, while in modern Chinese, the meaning for green is more common, for example, "青山綠水/青山緑水" (hill and water green in colour), "青蘋果/青苹果" (green apple). However, there are still some expressions for the meaning of blue, e.g. "青天" (blue sky), "青出於藍/青出于蓝" (literal meaning: blue colour extracts from a plant of blue dye. Extended meaning and use: for saying someone performed better than his/her teacher).

Compounds

青白 青菜 青草 青出于蓝 青春 青春痘 青春期 青瓷 青葱 青翠 青灯 青豆 青肥 青梗菜 青光眼 青红皂白 青花瓷 青黄不接 青灰 青椒 青筋 青筋暴露 青稞 青空 青睐 青莲色 青龙 青绿 青梅

青梅竹马 青霉素 青面獠牙 青苗 青年 青年节 青鸟 青皮 青纱帐 青山绿水 青少年 青史 青丝 青饲料 青蒜 青苔 (qīngtái) 清堂瓦舍 青天 青天白日 青天霹雳 青田石 青铜 青铜器 青铜器时代 青蛙 青魆魆, 青虚虚 青眼 青杨 青衣 青油油 青鱼 青郁 青云 青云直上 青肿 青贮 青壮年 青藜 (qīng lí)

• Big5:
  • Hex: AB43
  • Decimal: 43843

See also

• 藍, 蓝
• 蒼, 苍
• 紺, 绀
• 碧

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Vietnamese

Han character

青 (thanh, thênh, xanh)

References

• Nom Foundation