甘

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

甘 (Kangxi radical 99, 甘+0, 5 strokes, cangjie input 廿一 (TM), four-corner 4477₀, composition ⿻廿一)

1. Kangxi radical #99, ⽢.

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/甘

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 753, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 21643
• Dae Jaweon: page 1161, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2413, character 1
• Unihan data for U+7518

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		甘

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 甘
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
紺	*kɯːms
姏	*mɡaːm
嵌	*sɡaːmʔ, *kʰraːm
甘	*kaːm
柑	*kaːm
苷	*kaːm
泔	*kaːm
坩	*kaːm, *kʰaːm
蚶	*ɢaːm, *ɢaːm
酣	*ɢaːm
甝	*ɢaːm
魽	*ɢaːm
邯	*ɡaːm, *ɡaːm
鉗	*ɡram
箝	*ɡram
黚	*ɡram, *ɡrɯm
拑	*ɡram

semantic 口 (“mouth”) + semantic 一 something in the mouth, sweet

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-klum (“sweet”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT). Cognate with Mizo thlum, Lepcha [script needed] (khlyam).

Possibly related to 甜 (OC *l'iːm, “sweet”) and 柑 (OC *kaːm, “mandarin orange”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): gān (gan¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gam¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): kâm
• Eastern Min (BUC): kăng
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): kaⁿ / kam

  (Teochew, Peng'im): gam¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: gān
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: gan
    • Wade–Giles: kan¹
    • Yale: gān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: gan
    • Palladius: гань (ganʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kän⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gam¹
    • Yale: gām
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gam¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: gem¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɐm⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kâm
    • Hakka Romanization System: gam´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: gam¹
    • Sinological IPA: /kam²⁴/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: kăng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰaŋ⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kaⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: kann
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kvaf
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kã⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kam
    • Tâi-lô: kam
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kafm
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kam³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /kam⁴⁴/

Note:

• kaⁿ - vernacular;
• kam - literary.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: gam¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kam
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kam³³/

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• Middle Chinese: kam

Rime
Character	甘
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	談 (143)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	古三切
Baxter	kam
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kɑm/
Pan Wuyun	/kɑm/
Shao Rongfen	/kɑm/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kam/
Li Rong	/kɑm/
Wang Li	/kɑm/
Bernard Karlgren	/kɑm/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	gān
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gam1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[k]ˤ[a]m/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kaːm/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	甘
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	gān
Middle Chinese	‹ kam ›
Old Chinese	/*[k]ˁ[a]m/
English	sweet
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	甘
Reading #	1/1
No.	3652
Phonetic component	甘
Rime group	談
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	甘
Old Chinese	/*kaːm/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 甘

1. sweet

   甘甜  ―  gāntián  ―  sweet

   甘蔗  ―  gānzhe  ―  sugar cane

2. willingly

   甘心  ―  gānxīn  ―  to be willing to

   甘願／甘愿  ―  gānyuàn  ―  willingly

3. a surname

   甘為-霖／甘为-霖 [Hokkien]  ―  Kam Ûi-lîm [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  William Campbell / Kam Ûi-lîm (a Scottish Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan)

4. Short for 甘肅／甘肃 (Gānsù, “Gansu”).

Compounds

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

甘

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. sweet

Readings

• Go-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)^{←かん (kan, historical)←かむ (kamu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)^{←かん (kan, historical)←かむ (kamu, ancient)}
• Kun: あまい (amai, 甘い, Jōyō); うまい (umai, 甘い); あまんじる (amanjiru, 甘んじる); あまやかす (amayakasu, 甘やかす, Jōyō); あまえる (amaeru, 甘える, Jōyō)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
甘
かん Grade: S
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 甘 (MC kam).

Affix

甘(かん) • (kan) 

1. delicious
2. sweet-tasting; sweet
3. pleasant; pleased; content

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 甘井(かんせい) (kansei): sweet well
• 甘精(かんせい) (kansei): saccharin
• 甘草(かんぞう) (kanzō): licorice
• 甘藍(かんらん) (kanran): cabbage

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Korean

Hanja

甘 • (gam) (hangeul 감, revised gam, McCune–Reischauer kam, Yale kam)

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) 甘 (cam)

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