琴

See also: 琹 and 珡

Translingual

Etymology

Jade pendants with the phonetic jin below

Han character

琴 (radical 96 玉+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 一土人戈弓 (MGOIN), four-corner 1120₇, composition ⿱玨今)

1. guqin (Chinese seven-stringed zither, historical and original usage)
2. piano (modern usage, most commonly used meaning)
3. zither
4. string instrument (can apply to zithers or lutes)
5. musical instrument (for example, 手风琴 [accordion])

References

• KangXi: page 735, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 21079
• Dae Jaweon: page 1147, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1119, character 7
• Unihan data for U+7434

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		琴

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): qín (qin²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧㄣˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kam⁴
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): khìm
• Min Nan (POJ): khîm

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: qín
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧㄣˊ
    • Wade-Giles: ch'in²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chyn
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰin³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: kam⁴
    • Yale: kàhm
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kam⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /kʰɐm²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: khìm
    • Hakka Romanization System: kimˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: kim²
    • IPA: /kʰim¹¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khîm
    • Tâi-lô: khîm
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qiim
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰim²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰim¹³/

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• Middle Chinese: /ɡˠiɪm/▼

Rime
Character	琴
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	群 (30)
Final (韻)	侵 (140)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	Chongniu III
Fanqie	巨金切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɡˠiɪm/
Pan Wuyun	/ɡᵚim/
Shao Rongfen	/ɡiem/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/gjim/
Li Rong	/ɡjəm/
Wang Li	/ɡĭĕm/
Bernard Karlgren	/gi̯əm/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	qín

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter-Sagart): /*[C.ɢ](r)[ə]m/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡrɯm/

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	琴
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	qín
Middle Chinese	‹ gim ›
Old Chinese	/*[C.ɢ](r)[ə]m/
English	lute
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	琴
Reading #	1/1
No.	6605
Phonetic component	今
Rime group	侵
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	琴
Old Chinese	/*ɡrɯm/

Noun

琴

1. zither
2. a stringed instrument

Verb

琴

1. ^† to play the zither

   象往入舜宮，舜在床琴。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

   象往入舜宫，舜在床琴。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

   From: 孟子《萬章上》

   Xiàng wǎng rù Shùn gōng, Shùn zài chuáng qín. [Pinyin]

   Xiang entered Shun's room, and found Shun on his bed playing the zither.

Derived terms

• 六角琴 (liùjiǎoqín)
• 口琴 (kǒuqín)
• 古琴 (gǔqín)
• 奚琴 (xīqín)
• 布祖基琴 (bùzǔjīqín)
• 手風琴／手风琴 (shǒufēngqín)
• 提琴 (tíqín)

• 揚琴／扬琴 (yángqín)
• 柳琴 (liǔqín)
• 梅花琴 (méihuāqín)
• 獨弦琴／独弦琴 (dúxiánqín)
• 琴弦
• 琴瑟
• 胡琴 (húqín)

• 鋼片琴／钢片琴 (gāngpiànqín)
• 鋼琴／钢琴 (gāngqín)
• 鐘琴／钟琴 (zhōngqín)
• 雷琴 (léiqín)
• 電子琴／电子琴 (diànzǐqín)
• 風琴／风琴 (fēngqín)
• 馬林巴琴／马林巴琴 (mǎlínbā qín)

Descendants

• Burmese: ခင် ‎(hkang) (borrowed)

References

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

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Japanese

Wikipedia

Noun

琴 ‎(hiragana こと, romaji koto)

1. Japanese zither/harp; koto

Kanji

琴

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: ごん (gon)
• Kan’on: きん (kin)
• Kun: こと (koto)

Compounds

• 琴線
• 琴柱
• 琴爪
• 琴曲
• 竪琴
• 大正琴
• 洋琴
• 木琴

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Korean

Hanja

琴 • ‎(geum) (hangeul 금, revised geum, McCune-Reischauer kŭm, Yale kum)

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

Compounds

• 伽倻琴 ‎(가야금, gayageum, kayagŭm)

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Vietnamese

Han character

琴 (cầm)

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