柳

Translingual

Han character

柳 (Kangxi radical 75, 木+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 木竹竹中 (DHHL), four-corner 4792₀, composition ⿰木卯)

Derived characters

• 𩋶, 𦵂

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 521, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14662
• Dae Jaweon: page 909, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1187, character 2
• Unihan data for U+67F3

• Unihan data for U+F9C9

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		柳

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 柳
Western Zhou
Bronze inscriptions

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

	Old Chinese
卯	*mruːʔ
昴	*mruːʔ
泖	*mruːʔ
茆	*mruːʔ, *m·ruʔ
奅	*m̥ʰruːs
窌	*m̥ʰruːs, *m·ruː, *m·rus
聊	*m·rɯːw
貿	*mlus
鄮	*mlus
劉	*m·ru
留	*m·ru, *m·rus
蒥	*m·ru
鶹	*m·ru
騮	*m·ru
榴	*m·ru
瑠	*ru
瘤	*m·ru, *m·rus
遛	*m·ru
鎦	*m·ru
飀	*m·ru
鰡	*m·ru
嵧	*m·ru
餾	*m·ru, *m·rus
瀏	*m·ru, *m·ruʔ
懰	*m·ru, *m·ruʔ
柳	*m·ruʔ
珋	*m·ruʔ
罶	*m·ruʔ
嬼	*m·ruʔ, *m·rus
溜	*m·rus
霤	*m·rus
廇	*m·rus
塯	*m·rus

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *m·ruʔ) : semantic 木 + phonetic 卯 (OC *mruːʔ) in oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions.

Later semantic 木 + phonetic 丣 (OC *luʔ) in small seal script.

The glyph finally turned back to 木 (mù) + 卯 (mǎo) in the current form.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 柳

1. willow, a member of the genus Salix
2. (astronomy) One of the constellations of the Twenty-Eight Mansions (二十八宿 (Èrshíbā Xiù)).
3. a surname

References

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A01909

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Japanese

Kanji

柳

(Jōyō kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: る (ru)
• Kan-on: りゅう (ryū, Jōyō)^{←りう (riu, historical)}
• Kun: やなぎ (yanagi, 柳, Jōyō)
• Nanori: なぎ (nagi); や (ya); やい (yai); やぎ (yagi); やな (yana); やない (yanai)

Compounds

• 川柳(せんりゅう) (senryū)
• 柳葉魚(シシャモ) (shishamo)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
柳
やなぎ Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
楊

From Old Japanese.

Appears to be derived from a compound, possibly 矢 (ya, “arrow”) +‎ な (na, Old Japanese apophonic form of possessive particle の (no)) +‎ 木 (ki, “tree”). The ki changes to gi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Alternatively the ya might be from the 字音 (jion, “character reading”) of Middle Chinese 楊 (MC yang, “willow”).

Noun

柳(やなぎ) or 柳(ヤナギ) • (yanagi) 

1. a willow
2. a style of 襲の色目 (kasane no irome, “color combination by layering of garments”), with white on the front and greenish-blue (or yellowish-green) on the back
3. Short for 柳色 (yanagi-iro): a dark yellow-green color, as from a willow leaf

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 ヤナギ.
• In some compounds, yanagi becomes yagi; possibly due to shortening, sound shift, or direct compound of 矢 (ya) +‎ 木 (ki) without the na element.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 柳(やなぎ)腰(ごし) (yanagigoshi)
• 青柳(あおやぎ) (aoyagi)
• 糸(いと)柳(やなぎ) (itoyanagi)
• 枝垂(しだ)れ柳(やなぎ) (shidareyanagi)
• 川(カワ)柳(ヤナギ) (kawayanagi), 川柳(かわやぎ) (kawayagi)
• 猫(ネコ)柳(ヤナギ) (nekoyanagi)

Proverbs

• 柳(やなぎ)は緑(みどり)花は紅(なはくれない) (yanagi wa midori hana wa kurenai, “willows are green, flowers are red”)

Proper noun

柳(やなぎ) • (Yanagi) 

1. a surname

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
柳
りゅう Grade: S
kun'yomi

/riu/ → /rjuː/

From Middle Chinese 柳 (MC ljuwX).

Affix

柳(りゅう) • (ryū) ^{←りう (riu)?}

1. willow, especially weeping willow
2. thin as a willow leaf

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 柳絮(りゅうじょ) (ryūjo)
• 柳色(りゅうしょく) (ryūshoku)
• 柳(りゅう)眉(び) (ryūbi)
• 柳腰(りゅうよう) (ryūyō)
• 柳(りゅう)緑(りょく)花(か)紅(こう) (ryūryokukakō)
• 花(か)柳(りゅう) (karyū)
• 垂柳(すいりゅう) (suiryū)
• 翠柳(すいりゅう) (suiryū)
• 蒲(ほ)柳(りゅう) (horyū)
• 楊柳(ようりゅう) (yōryū)

Proper noun

柳(りゅう) • (Ryū) ^{←りう (riu)?}

1. (Chinese astronomy) the Willow as one of the twenty-eight mansions

   Synonym: 柳宿 (Ryūshuku)

2. a female given name
3. a surname

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Korean

Hanja

柳 • (ryu>yu) (hangeul 류>유)

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

(deprecated template usage) 柳 (liễu)

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