益

益 U+FA17, 益 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-FA17 ← 猪 [U+FA16] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 礼 → [U+FA18]

益 U+FAA6, 益 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-FAA6 ← 瘟 [U+FAA5] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 盛 → [U+FAA7]

Translingual

Alternative forms

• In Korean hanja, the upper component of the character is written 八 instead of 丷, which is also the historical form found in the Kangxi dictionary.
• A CJK compatibility ideograph exists at U+FA17 for the historical form found in the Kangxi dictionary which contains 八 as its upper component.
• A CJK compatibility ideograph exists at U+FAA6 for the alternative hanja used in North Korea which contains 丷 as its upper component.

Han character

益 (Kangxi radical 108, 皿+5, 10 strokes, cangjie input 廿金月廿 (TCBT), four-corner 8010₇, composition ⿳䒑八皿(GHTJV or U+FAA6) or ⿱⿳八一八皿(K or U+FA17))

Derived characters

• 𪝞, 𭂚, 𭄷, 嗌, 塧, 㜋, 𡺬, 𭛃, 𭛽, 𪬘, 搤, 溢, 獈, 隘, 膉, 榏, 㱲, 𬎃, 䅬, 𮄷, 縊(缢), 𬙻, 𫆌, 艗, 螠, 謚(谥), 貖, 賹, 𬦜, 𬧬, 𨢘, 㬲, 𡒪, 鎰(镒), 𥂺, 𤐹, 𩝱, 𪤴, 𪕶, 齸, 𥃠
• 𪟢, 𨜶, 𣣼, 𬐭, 䚊, 𭘺, 𩔱, 𭾓, 鷁(鹢), 𧔈, 蠲, 𨽪, 𭗆, 𦶩, 𤸸, 𨶂, 𦿯

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 793, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 22972
• Dae Jaweon: page 1208, character 18
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2560, character 6
• Unihan data for U+76CA

• Unihan data for U+FA17

• Unihan data for U+FAA6

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		益
alternative forms		𠍳 ancient form

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 益
Shang	Western Zhou
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions

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

	Old Chinese
隘	*qreːɡs
賹	*qreːɡs
搤	*qreːɡs, *qreːɡ
縊	*qleːɡs, *qleɡs
螠	*qleɡs
謚	*ɢliɡs, *qleɡ
諡	*ɢliɡs
蠲	*kʷliːŋ
溢	*liɡ
鎰	*liɡ
齸	*lig, *qleg
貖	*qreːɡ
益	*qleɡ
嗌	*qleɡ
膉	*qleɡ
鷁	*ŋɡleːɡ
艗	*ŋɡleːɡ

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 水 (“water”) + 皿 (“vessel”). Original form of 溢 (OC *liɡ, “to overflow”).

Etymology

Bodman (1980) relates it to Tibetan སྐྱེད (skyed, “growth; increase; profit; to generate”), སྐྱེ (skye, “to be born”).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 益

1. profit; benefit
2. advantage
3. ^† more; further; even more

   日益  ―  rìyì  ―  day by day; increasingly

   • 如水益深，如火益熱，亦運而已矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     如水益深，如火益热，亦运而已矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Rú shuǐ yì shēn, rú huǒ yì rè, yì yùn éryǐ yǐ. [Pinyin]

     If you make the water more deep and the fire more fierce, they will in like manner make another revolution.

4. 42nd hexagram of the I Ching

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (益):

• → Japanese: 益(えき) (eki); 益(やく) (yaku)
• → Korean: 익(益) (ik)
• → Vietnamese: ích (益)

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Japanese

Kanji

益

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. benefit
2. gain
3. profit
4. advantage

Readings

• Go-on: やく (yaku, Jōyō ^†)
• Kan-on: えき (eki, Jōyō)
• Kun: ます (masu, 益す); ますます (masumasu, 益)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
益
えき Grade: 5
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 益 (MC 'jiek, “increase”). The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing.

Noun

益(えき) • (eki) 

1. benefit
2. profit

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 益(えき)獣(じゅう) (ekijū)
• 益(えき)虫(ちゅう) (ekichū)
• 益(えき)鳥(ちょう) (ekichō)
• 益(えき)する (ekisuru)
• 共(きょう)益(えき) (kyōeki)
• 公(こう)益(えき) (kōeki)
• 国(こく)益(えき) (kokueki)
• 実(じつ)益(えき) (jitsueki)
• 収(しゅう)益(えき) (shūeki)
• 損(そん)益(えき) (son'eki)
• 無(む)益(えき) (mueki)
• 有(ゆう)益(えき) (yūeki)
• 利(り)益(えき) (rieki)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
益
やく Grade: 5
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 益 (MC 'jiek, “increase”). The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing.

Noun

益(やく) • (yaku) 

1. benefit

Derived terms

• ご-利(り)益(やく) (go-riyaku), 御-利(ごり)益(やく) (go-riyaku)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
益
ますます Grade: 5
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 益 – see the following entry.

【ますます】 [adverb] even more Alternative spellings 益益, 益々, 増増, 増々, 増す増す

(This term, 益, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

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Korean

Hanja

益 (eumhun 더할 익 (deohal ik))

1. hanja form^? of 익 (“gain; benefit”)

Compounds

Compounds

• 공익 (公益, gong'ik)
• 권익 (權益, gwonik)
• 수익 (收益, su'ik)
• 유익 (有益, yuik)
• 이익 (利益, iik)
• 편익 (便益, pyeonik)
• 다다익선 (多多益善, dadaikseon)

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Vietnamese

Han character

益: Hán Việt readings: ích (伊(y)昔(tích)切(thiết))
益: Nôm readings: ích, ịch

1. chữ Hán form of ích (“benefit”).
2. Nôm form of ịch (“thud”).

Compounds

Compounds

• 有益 (hữu ích)
• 利益 (lợi ích)
• 無益 (vô ích)