歉

See also: 欠

歉 U+6B49, 歉 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6B49 ← 歈 [U+6B48] CJK Unified Ideographs 歊 → [U+6B4A]

Translingual

Han character

歉 (Kangxi radical 76, 欠+10, 14 strokes, cangjie input 廿金弓人 (TCNO) or 難廿金弓人 (XTCNO), four-corner 8728₂, composition ⿰兼欠)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 570, character 30
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16159
• Dae Jaweon: page 958, character 30
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2148, character 11
• Unihan data for U+6B49

Chinese

simp. and trad.		歉
2nd round simp.		倩

Glyph origin

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

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

	Old Chinese
譧	*r'eːms
賺	*r'eːms
尲	*kreːm
鹻	*kreːmʔ
歉	*kʰreːms, *kʰreːmʔ, *kʰeːmʔ, *kʰeːms
槏	*kʰreːmʔ
鰜	*ɡreːm, *keːm
稴	*ɡreːm, *ɡ·reːm, *ɡ·reːmʔ, *ɡ·reːms, *ɡeːm
豏	*ɡreːmʔ, *ɡreːms
甉	*ɡreːmʔ, *ɡraːm
廉	*ɡ·rem
鎌	*ɡ·rem
鬑	*ɡ·rem, *ɡ·reːm
鐮	*ɡ·rem
簾	*ɡ·rem
薕	*ɡ·rem, *ɡ·reːm
蠊	*ɡ·rem
嬚	*ɡ·remʔ
溓	*ɡ·remʔ, *ɡ·reːm, *ɡ·reːmʔ
嵰	*kʰremʔ
隒	*ŋɡremʔ
熑	*ɡ·reːm
濂	*ɡ·reːm
燫	*ɡ·reːm
兼	*keːm, *keːms
縑	*keːm
鶼	*keːm
蒹	*keːm
搛	*keːm
謙	*kʰeːm
膁	*kʰeːmʔ
嗛	*kʰeːmʔ
慊	*kʰeːmʔ, *kʰeːb
傔	*kʰeːms
馦	*qʰeːm
嫌	*ɡeːm
鼸	*ɡeːmʔ
尷	*kreːm

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *kʰreːms, *kʰreːmʔ, *kʰeːmʔ, *kʰeːms): phonetic 兼 (OC *keːm, *keːms) + semantic 欠 (“person with mouth open”) to convey the original meaning of feeling hunger after eating. The phonetic component 兼 could be a reference to food since it represents a hand holding two crop plants.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): qiàn (qian⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧㄢˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): hip³ / him³
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): khiam
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): khiàm / khiám / khiam

  (Teochew, Peng'im): kiam²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: qiàn
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧㄢˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ciàn
    • Wade–Giles: chʻien⁴
    • Yale: chyàn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chiann
    • Palladius: цянь (cjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: hip³ / him³
    • Yale: hip / him
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hip⁸ / him³
    • Guangdong Romanization: hib³ / him³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hiːp̚³/, /hiːm³³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: khiam
    • Hakka Romanization System: kiam
    • Hagfa Pinyim: kiam⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /kʰi̯am⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khiàm
    • Tâi-lô: khiàm
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qiaxm
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰiam⁴¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Kaohsiung): /kʰiam²¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei): /kʰiam¹¹/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khiám
    • Tâi-lô: khiám
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qiarm
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /kʰiam⁵³/
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰiam⁵⁵⁴/
    • Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰiam⁴¹/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khiam
    • Tâi-lô: khiam
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qiafm
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /kʰiam⁴⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: kiam²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: khiám
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰiam⁵²/

---

• Middle Chinese: khemX, kheamX, kheamH

Rime
Character	歉	歉	歉
Reading #	1/3	2/3	3/3
Initial (聲)	溪 (29)	溪 (29)	溪 (29)
Final (韻)	添 (157)	咸 (151)	咸 (151)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Rising (X)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	IV	II	II
Fanqie	苦簟切	苦減切	口陷切
Baxter	khemX	kheamX	kheamH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kʰemX/	/kʰˠɛmX/	/kʰˠɛmH/
Pan Wuyun	/kʰemX/	/kʰᵚæmX/	/kʰᵚæmH/
Shao Rongfen	/kʰɛmX/	/kʰɐmX/	/kʰɐmH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kʰɛmX/	/kʰəɨmX/	/kʰəɨmH/
Li Rong	/kʰemX/	/kʰɐmX/	/kʰɐmH/
Wang Li	/kʰiemX/	/kʰɐmX/	/kʰɐmH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kʰiemX/	/kʰămX/	/kʰămH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	qiǎn	qiǎn	qiàn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	him2	haam2	haam3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*kʰˤremʔ-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʰreːms/, /*kʰreːmʔ/, /*kʰeːmʔ/, /*kʰeːms/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	歉
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	qiàn
Middle Chinese	‹ khɛmH ›
Old Chinese	/*kʰˁremʔ-s/
English	deficient, modest
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	歉	歉	歉	歉
Reading #	1/4	2/4	3/4	4/4
No.	6033	6034	6071	6075
Phonetic component	兼	兼	兼	兼
Rime group	談	談	談	談
Rime subdivision	2	2	2	2
Corresponding MC rime	歉	㦿	嗛
Old Chinese	/*kʰreːms/	/*kʰreːmʔ/	/*kʰeːmʔ/	/*kʰeːms/
Notes	校本右從攴

Definitions

歉

1. deficient; lacking; insufficient
2. to apologize
3. to regret; to be dissatisfied
4. crop failure; poor harvest
5. (obsolete) to not eat enough food

Compounds

• 三好兩歉 / 三好两歉
• 不知好歉
• 做好做歉
• 做歉做好
• 年歉
• 愧歉
• 抱歉 (bàoqiàn)
• 歉仄 (qiànzè)
• 歉年 (qiànnián)
• 歉意 (qiànyì)
• 歉收 (qiànshōu)
• 歉歲 / 歉岁 (qiànsuì)
• 歉疚 (qiànjiù)
• 為好成歉 / 为好成歉
• 致歉 (zhìqiàn)
• 荒歉 (huāngqiàn)
• 要好成歉
• 豐歉 / 丰歉
• 道歉 (dàoqiàn)
• 道歉啟事 / 道歉启事

Japanese

Kanji

歉

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. insufficiency, lack, shortage (あきたりない)
2. crop failure (すくない)

Readings

• On (unclassified): けん (ken)、かん (kan)
• Kun: あきたりない (akitarinai, 歉りない)、すくない (sukunai, 歉ない)

References

• “歉”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

Korean

Hanja

歉 • (gyeom) (hangeul 겸, revised gyeom, McCune–Reischauer kyŏm, Yale kyem)

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Vietnamese

Han character

歉: Hán Nôm readings: gồm, khiểm, khiễm, khiệm

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