勉

勉 U+52C9, 勉 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-52C9 ← 勈 [U+52C8] CJK Unified Ideographs 勊 → [U+52CA]

勉 U+FA33, 勉 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-FA33 ← 免 [U+FA32] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 勤 → [U+FA34]

勉 U+2F826, 勉 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F826 ← 勇 [U+2F825] CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 勤 → [U+2F827]

Translingual

Japanese	勉
Simplified	勉
Traditional	勉

Alternative forms

Note that in Japanese shinjitai, the bottom left handed stroke ㇓ of 免 is written as two separate components (𫩏+儿).

Han character

勉 (Kangxi radical 19, 力+7 in Chinese, 力+8 in Japanese, 9 strokes in Chinese, 10 strokes in Japanese, Cangjie input 弓山大尸 (NUKS), four-corner 2421₂, composition ⿺免力)

Derived characters

• 𬾲, 𠷦, 㛯, 𢱍, 𭦴, 𤧔, 𦂔, 𱺨, 𨍠, 𨩯, 𩋭, 𠣉, 𠅦, 𡩄, 葂, 𣈳, 𫁕, 𤸩, 𰑷, 𠢖

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 147, character 37
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2384
• Dae Jaweon: page 333, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 372, character 3
• Unihan data for U+52C9

• Unihan data for U+FA33

• Unihan data for U+2F826

Chinese

simp. and trad.		勉

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 勉
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Characters in the same phonetic series (免) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
免	*mronʔ
娩	*mronʔ, *mronʔ, *m̥ʰons, *monʔ, *mons, *muns
勉	*mronʔ
俛	*mronʔ
鮸	*mronʔ
冕	*mronʔ
絻	*mronʔ, *moːn, *muns
婏	*m̥ʰos
浼	*muːlʔ
鞔	*moːn
悗	*moːn
嬎	*m̥ʰons
晚	*monʔ
挽	*monʔ
輓	*monʔ, *mons
脕	*monʔ, *mons, *muns
莬	*muns

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *mronʔ): phonetic 免 (OC *mronʔ) + semantic 力 (“strong”) – make a strong effort.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): miǎn (mian³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄧㄢˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): min⁵
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): miên

  (Hailu, HRS): mien^ˋ

  (Meixian, Guangdong): mên¹ / mên³

• Eastern Min (BUC): miēng
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): bián

  (Teochew, Peng'im): miang² / miêng²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: miǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄧㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: miǎn
    • Wade–Giles: mien³
    • Yale: myǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mean
    • Palladius: мянь (mjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mi̯ɛn²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: min⁵
    • Yale: míhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: min⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: min⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miːn¹³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: miên
    • Hakka Romanization System: mien^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: mian¹
    • Sinological IPA: /mi̯en²⁴/
  • (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
    • Hakka Romanization System: mien^ˋ
    • Sinological IPA: /mien⁵³/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: mên¹ / mên³
    • Sinological IPA: /mɛn⁴⁴/, /mɛn³¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: miēng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mieŋ³³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bián
    • Tâi-lô: bián
    • Phofsit Daibuun: biern
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /biɛn⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /biɛn⁵⁵⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Zhangzhou): /biɛn⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei): /biɛn⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /biɛn⁴¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: miang² / miêng²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: miáng / miéng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /miaŋ⁵²/, /mieŋ⁵²/

Note:

• miang2 - Shantou;
• miêng2 - Chaozhou.

---

• Middle Chinese: mjenX

Rime
Character	勉
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)
Final (韻)	仙 (79)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	亡辨切
Baxter	mjenX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mˠiᴇnX/
Pan Wuyun	/mᵚiɛnX/
Shao Rongfen	/miænX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/mianX/
Li Rong	/mjɛnX/
Wang Li	/mĭɛnX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/mi̯ɛnX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	miǎn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	min5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*mr[o][r]ʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mronʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	勉
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	miǎn
Middle Chinese	‹ mjenX ›
Old Chinese	/*mr[o][r]ʔ/
English	make an effort
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	勉
Reading #	1/1
No.	9068
Phonetic component	免
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	3
Corresponding MC rime	免
Old Chinese	/*mronʔ/

Definitions

勉

1. to endeavor; to make an effort; to strive

   • 公子勉之矣！老臣不能從。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     公子勉之矣！老臣不能从。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Gōngzǐ miǎnzhī yǐ! Lǎochén bùnéng cóng. [Pinyin]

     Strive, my prince! Your old servant is unable to help.

2. to encourage; to urge
3. to force; to do something reluctantly
4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to hurry; quickly
5. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 娩 (“to give birth to a child”)
6. a surname

Compounds

• 互勉 (hùmiǎn)
• 僶勉 / 𠊟勉 (mǐnmiǎn)
• 勉力 (miǎnlì)
• 勉勵 / 勉励 (miǎnlì)
• 勉強 / 勉强
• 勉思
• 勉為其難 / 勉为其难 (miǎnwéiqínán)
• 勉生
• 勤勉 (qínmiǎn)
• 勸勉 / 劝勉 (quànmiǎn)
• 嘉勉 (jiāmiǎn)
• 困知勉行
• 奮勉 / 奋勉 (fènmiǎn)
• 強勉 / 强勉
• 慰勉 (wèimiǎn)
• 戒勉
• 勗勉 / 勖勉 (xùmiǎn)
• 期勉
• 淬勉
• 獎勉 / 奖勉
• 自勉 (zìmiǎn)
• 訓勉 / 训勉
• 黽勉 / 黾勉 (mǐnmiǎn)

Japanese

Shinjitai	勉
Kyūjitai	勉 勉 or 勉+︀?
	勉󠄀 勉+󠄀? (Adobe-Japan1)
	勉󠄃 勉+󠄃? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

勉

(Third grade kyōiku kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 勉)

1. effort
2. to study

Readings

• Go-on: めん (men)
• Kan-on: べん (ben, Jōyō)
• Kun: つとめる (tsutomeru, 勉める)^{←つとむ (tutomu, 勉む, historical)}、はげます (hagemasu, 勉ます)、ひこ (hiko)、やつ (yatsu)
• Nanori: かつ (katsu)、すすむ (susumu)、つとむ (tsutomu)、まさる (masaru)、ます (masu)、やす (yasu)

Compounds

• 勉(べん)学(がく) (bengaku): study
• 勉(べん)強(きょう) (benkyō): study, studies
• 勉(べん)励(れい) (benrei): effort, striving

Proper noun

勉(つとむ) • (Tsutomu) 

1. a male given name

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 勉 (MC mjenX).

Hanja

勉 (eumhun 힘쓸 면 (himsseul myeon))

1. hanja form^? of 면 (“strive; make an effort”)

Compounds

• 권면 (勸勉, gwonmyeon)
• 근면 (勤勉, geunmyeon)
• 면학 (勉學, myeonhak)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

Vietnamese

Han character

勉: Hán Nôm readings: miễn, mến, mễn, mịn

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.