亀

See also: 龜

亀 U+4E80, 亀 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E80 ← 乿 [U+4E7F] CJK Unified Ideographs 亁 → [U+4E81]

⻲ U+2EF2, ⻲ CJK RADICAL J-SIMPLIFIED TURTLE ← ⻱ [U+2EF1] CJK Radicals Supplement ⻳ → [U+2EF3]

Translingual

Stroke order

Traditional	龜
Shinjitai	亀
Simplified	龟

Glyph origin

Variant of 龜, simplified from 龜. The modern Japanese usage is of reform (shinjitai) nature.

Han character

亀 (Kangxi radical 213, 亀+0, 11 strokes, cangjie input 弓田中山 (NWLU), four-corner 2771₆, composition ⿻龟日)

Derived Characters

• 𫣒, 𠼓, 𭒗, 𭧛, 𪚲, 𪳥, 穐, 𦅥, 𫝰, 䆴, 𫠝, 䦰, 䰗, 𦿷

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 142, character 28
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 210
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 8 (in addendum), page 10, character 19
• Unihan data for U+4E80

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 亀 – see 龜 (“turtle; tortoise; cuckold; etc.”). (This character, 亀, is a variant form of 龜.)

Japanese

Shinjitai	亀
Kyūjitai	龜

Kanji

亀

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 龜)

Readings

• Go-on: き (ki, Jōyō)^{←き (ki, historical)}; く (ku)
• Kan-on: き (ki, Jōyō)^{←き (ki, historical)}; きゅう (kyū)^{←きう (kiu, historical)}
• Kun: かめ (kame, 亀, Jōyō)
• Nanori: あま (ama); すすむ (susumu); ひさ (hisa); ひさし (hisashi)

Compounds

• 神(じん)亀(き) (Jinki)
• 金亀子(コガネムシ) (koganemushi)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
亀
かめ Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
龜 (kyūjitai)

亀 (kame): a turtle.

⟨kame₂⟩ → */kaməɨ/ → /kame/

From Old Japanese.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “What is etymological meaning?”)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) か​め [káꜜmè] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠me̞]

Noun

亀(かめ) • (kame) 

1. a tortoise or turtle (land or marine reptile with a shell)
   • 2007, Kōsuke Hasumi, The Biology of Fairy Tales, page 28:

     休(やす)んで負(ま)けてしまったウサギと休(やす)まず走(はし)って勝利(しょうり)したカメ。

     Yasunde makete shimatta usagi to yasumazu hashitte shōri shita kame.

     The tortoise ran without resting and won, and the hare rested and lost.

2. (by extension, figurative, as turtles are thought to be good drinkers) a drunkard
3. a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) with various designs of tortoises
4. (figurative) sluggishness; also, such a person
5. a shrugger
6. (slang, as it resembles a turtle's neck) a penis

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as カメ.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 亀(かめ)卜(うら) (kameura)
• 亀(かめ)鳴(な)く (kame naku)
• 亀(かめ)の子(こ) (kame no ko)
• 亀(かめ)の甲(こう) (kame no kō)
• 亀(かめ)の手(て), 石蜐(カメノテ) (kame no te)
• がめ (game)
• 石(イシ)亀(ガメ) (ishigame)
• 海(ウミ)亀(ガメ) (umigame)
• 阿(お)亀(かめ) (okame)
• 神(しん)亀(かめ) (shinkame)
• 銭(ゼニ)亀(ガメ) (zenigame)
• 鶴(つる)亀(かめ) (tsurukame)
• 出歯(でば)亀(かめ) (debakame)
• 花(ハナ)亀(ガメ)虫(ムシ) (hanagamemushi)

Idioms

• 亀(かめ)の年(とし)を鶴(つる)が羨(うらや)む (kame no toshi o tsuru ga urayamu)

Proverbs

• 鶴(つる)は千(せん)年(ねん)亀(かめ)は万(まん)年(ねん) (tsuru wa sennen kame wa mannen)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
亀
き Grade: S
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
龜 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 龜 (MC kwij).

Affix

亀(き) • (ki) 

1. tortoise, turtle
2. tortoise shell used in divination

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 亀(き)鑑(かん) (kikan)
• 亀(きっ)甲(こう) (kikkō)
• 亀(き)頭(とう) (kitō)
• 亀(き)卜(ぼく) (kiboku)
• 亀(き)裂(れつ) (kiretsu)
• 神(しん)亀(き) (shinki)
• 盲(もう)亀(き) (mōki)

See also

• タートル (tātoru)
• トータス (tōtasu)
• 鼈(スッポン) (suppon)

Korean

Hanja

亀 • (gwi, gyun) (hangeul 귀, 균, revised gwi, gyun, McCune–Reischauer kwi, kyun)

1. a turtle's or tortoise's shell