役

See also: 伇

Translingual

Han character

役 (Kangxi radical 60, 彳+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹人竹弓水 (HOHNE), four-corner 2724₇, composition ⿰彳殳)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 365, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10057
• Dae Jaweon: page 685, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 814, character 23
• Unihan data for U+5F79

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		役

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 役
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
椺	*ɦmluːʔ, *ɢʷeːɡs, *ɢeːɡ
役	*ɢʷeɡ
疫	*ɢʷeɡ
垼	*ɢʷeɡ
炈	*ɢʷeɡ
鈠	*ɢʷeɡ
豛	*ɢʷeɡ
坄	*doː, *leɡ

Etymology

From 為 (OC *ɢʷal, “to do”) with k-extension (Schuessler, 2007).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 役

1. ^† to guard the borders
2. ^† soldier
3. ^† matter; event; incident
4. war; military campaign
5. forced labour
6. military service
7. labourer
8. servant
9. to use as a servant
10. ^† to attract
11. ^† student; disciple
12. ^† duty; responsibility
13. ^† low-ranking official
14. ^† to arrange into rows
15. ^† to help; to aid
16. ^† to be; to act as
17. ^† to practise; to act with

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Japanese

Kanji

役

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. duty, office
2. service
3. role, part

Readings

• Go-on: やく (yaku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: えき (eki, Jōyō)
• Kun: つとめ (tsutome, 役); えだち (edachi, 役)
• Nanori: え (e); えん (en); えんの (enno); おうこ (ōko); おうせ (ōse); おおせ (ōse); まもり (mamori); まもる (mamoru)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
役
やく Grade: 3
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 役 (MC ywek). The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing.

Noun

役(やく) • (yaku) 

1. role, service, use
2. (card games, mahjong) hand, scoring combination

Suffix

役(やく) • (-yaku) 

1. playing the role of...

   涼(すず)宮(みや)ハルヒ役(やく)の平(ひら)野(の)綾(あや)さん

   Suzumiya Haruhi-yaku no Hirano Aya-san

   Aya Hirano, who voices Haruhi Suzumiya

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
役
えき Grade: 3
kan’on

From Middle Chinese 役 (MC ywek).

The kan'on pronunciation, so likely a later borrowing.

Noun

役(えき) • (eki) 

1. war; battle
2. (archaic) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Affix

役(えき) • (eki) 

1. duty; service
2. put to work, labor
3. war; battle

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Korean

Hanja

役 (eum 역 (yeok))

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

役: Hán Nôm readings: dịch, việc

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