笙

Translingual

Han character

笙 (radical 118 竹+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 竹竹手一 (HHQM), four-corner 8810₄, composition ⿱⺮生)

1. a sheng; a hand-held free-reed mouth organ made from a dried gourd and 13 or more bamboo pipes

References

• KangXi: Template:Han KangXi link, character 29
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 25913
• Dae Jaweon: page 1307, character 21
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 2955, character 6
• Unihan data for U+7B19

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Cantonese

Hanzi

笙 (Jyutping saang1, sang1, Yale saang1, sang1)

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Japanese

Wikipedia ^ja

Wikipedia

Chinese shēng (L) & Japanese shō (R)

Kanji

笙

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: しょう (shō), (historical) しゃう (shau)
• Kan’on: そう (sō), (historical) さう (sau)
• Kan’yōon: せい (sei)
• Kun: ふえ (fue)

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 笙 (/*shræng/). Goon, so likely the original reading as first borrowed from Middle Chinese. Compare modern Mandarin 笙 (shēng).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): /sjo.o/, [ɕʲo̞ː]

Noun

笙 (hiragana しょう, historical hiragana しゃう, romaji shō)

1. (music) the sho

   A free-reed woodwind musical instrument consisting of a mouthpiece and seventeen pipes, each similar to an organ pipe. Developed from the Chinese shēng that was introduced to Japan during the Nara Period. Traditionally used to provide accompaniment in gagaku (traditional Japanese court music), and now also used in some contemporary music.

Derived terms

• 笙の笛 (しょうのふえ, ​shō no fue): a type of simplified sho used as a toy
• 笙歌 (しょうか, ​shōka; せいか, ​seika): singing to a sho accompaniment; to sing to a sho accompaniment; a song sung to a sho accompaniment
• 笙岩屋, 笙窟 (しょうのいわや, ​Shō no Iwaya): a cave and pilgrimage destination in central Nara Prefecture

See also

• Gagaku on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Gagaku

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 笙. Kan'on, so likely an historically later reading. Compare modern Cantonese 笙 (saang¹, sang¹). Seen in The Tale of Genji.

This reading is obsolete in modern Japanese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): /so.o/, [so̞ː]

Noun

笙 (hiragana そう, historical hiragana さう, romaji sō)

1. (obsolete) the sho

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Korean

Hanja

笙 (saeng) (hangeul 생, revised saeng, McCune-Reischauer saeng, Yale sayng)

Compounds

• 笙簧

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Mandarin

Hanzi

笙 (Pinyin shēng (sheng1), Wade-Giles sheng¹)

Compounds

• 芦笙
• 蘆笙
• 笙簧

See also

• 樦

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Middle Chinese

Han character

笙 (*shræng, ṣạiŋ)

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Vietnamese

Han character

笙 (sanh)