肯

See also: 肻

肯 U+80AF, 肯 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-80AF ← 肮 [U+80AE] CJK Unified Ideographs 肰 → [U+80B0]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

肯 (Kangxi radical 130, 肉+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 卜一月 (YMB), four-corner 2122₇, composition ⿱止月)

Derived characters

• 啃 掯 𣔨 𬒔 𥺾 褃 錹

References

• KangXi: page 976, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29311
• Dae Jaweon: page 1427, character 21
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2048, character 4
• Unihan data for U+80AF

---

Chinese

trad.		肯
simp. #		肯
alternative forms		肎 肻 𣍟 𠕔 𦙡 肎 肻 𣍟 𠕔 𦙡 𦘫

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 肯
Western Zhou
Bronze inscriptions

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

	Old Chinese
肯	*kʰɯːŋʔ
肎	*kʰɯːŋʔ

Ideogrammic compound (會意): abbreviated 冎 (“bone”) + 肉 (“meat”) – meat attached to the bone. Originally written more like 肎, the top component is now written 止.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kěn, kěng (ken³, keng³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄣˇ, ㄎㄥˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): hang², hoi²
• Hakka (Meixian, Guangdong): kên³ / hên³
• Min Bei (KCR): kǎing
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): khńg / khéng / khín / khán

  (Teochew, Peng'im): kêng²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: kěn
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄣˇ
    • Wade–Giles: kʻên3
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: keen
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kěn
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰən²¹⁴/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, variant)⁺
    • Pinyin: kěng
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄥˇ
    • Wade–Giles: kʻêng3
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: keeng
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kěng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɤŋ²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: hang², hoi²
    • Yale: háng, hói
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hang², hoi²
    • Guangdong Romanization: heng², hoi²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɐŋ³⁵/, /hɔːy̯³⁵/

Note: hoi2 - only in 肯綮.

• Hakka
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: kên³ / hên³
    • Sinological IPA: /kʰɛn³¹/, /hɛn³¹/

Note:

• kên3 - literary;
• hên3 - vernacular.

Min Bei

• (Jian'ou)
  • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: kǎing
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰaiŋ²¹/

Min Nan

• (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khńg
  • Tâi-lô: khńg
  • Phofsit Daibuun: qngr
  • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰŋ̍⁵⁵⁴/
• (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khéng
  • Tâi-lô: khíng
  • Phofsit Daibuun: qeang
  • IPA (Taipei, Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /kʰiɪŋ⁵³/
  • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰiɪŋ⁴¹/
• (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khín
  • Tâi-lô: khín
  • Phofsit Daibuun: qien
  • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰin⁵⁵⁴/
• (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khán
  • Tâi-lô: khán
  • Phofsit Daibuun: qarn
  • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /kʰan⁵³/

Note:

• khńg/khéng - literary;
• khín/khán - vernacular.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: kêng²
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: khéng
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰeŋ⁵²/

---

• Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 肯
Mandarin	Beijing	/kʰən²¹⁴/
	Harbin	/kʰən²¹³/
	Tianjin	/kʰən¹³/
	Jinan	/kʰẽ⁵⁵/
	Qingdao	/kʰə̃⁵⁵/
	Zhengzhou	/kʰən⁵³/
	Xi'an	/kʰẽ⁵³/
	Xining	/kʰə̃⁵³/
	Yinchuan	/kʰəŋ⁵³/
	Lanzhou	/kʰə̃n⁴⁴²/
	Ürümqi	/kʰɤŋ⁵¹/
	Wuhan	/kʰən⁴²/
	Chengdu	/kʰən⁵³/
	Guiyang	/kʰen⁴²/
	Kunming	/kʰə̃⁵³/
	Nanjing	/kʰən²¹²/
	Hefei	/kʰən²⁴/
Jin	Taiyuan	/kʰəŋ⁵³/
	Pingyao	/kʰəŋ⁵³/
	Hohhot	/kʰə̃ŋ⁵³/
Wu	Shanghai	/kʰəŋ³⁵/
	Suzhou	/kʰən⁵¹/
	Hangzhou	/kʰen⁵³/
	Wenzhou	/kʰaŋ³⁵/
Hui	Shexian	/kʰʌ̃³⁵/
	Tunxi	/t͡ɕʰin³¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/kʰən⁴¹/
	Xiangtan	/kʰən⁴²/
Gan	Nanchang	/kʰiɛn²¹³/
Hakka	Meixian	/kʰen³¹/
	Taoyuan	/hen³¹/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/hɐŋ³⁵/
	Nanning	/hɐŋ³⁵/
	Hong Kong	/hɐŋ³⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/kʰiŋ⁵³/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/kʰiŋ³²/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/kʰaiŋ²¹/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/kʰeŋ⁵³/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/xin²¹³/

---

• Middle Chinese: /kʰəŋ^X/

Rime
Character	肯
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	溪 (29)
Final (韻)	登 (129)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	苦等切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kʰəŋX/
Pan Wuyun	/kʰəŋX/
Shao Rongfen	/kʰəŋX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kʰəŋX/
Li Rong	/kʰəŋX/
Wang Li	/kʰəŋX/
Bernard Karlgren	/kʰəŋX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	kěng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	hang2

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*kʰˤəŋʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʰɯːŋʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	肯
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	kěn
Middle Chinese	‹ khongX ›
Old Chinese	/*kʰˁəŋʔ/
English	to be willing
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	肯
Reading #	1/1
No.	7485
Phonetic component	肯
Rime group	蒸
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	肯
Old Chinese	/*kʰɯːŋʔ/
Notes	說文作肎

Definitions

肯

1. ^† meat attached to the bone; tendon; sinew
2. to be willing to; to be ready to
3. to consent to; to permit; to agree
4. (archaic, rhetorical question) how could it be that

Compounds

• 不肯 (bùkěn)
• 不肯一世
• 不肯干休
• 中肯 (zhòngkěn)
• 問肯／问肯
• 心折首肯
• 心肯意肯
• 惠然肯來／惠然肯来
• 洞中肯綮

• 肯亞／肯亚 (Kěnyà)
• 肯分的
• 肯堂肯構／肯堂肯构
• 肯塔基州
• 肯定 (kěndìng)
• 肯定命題／肯定命题
• 肯尼亞／肯尼亚 (Kěnníyà)
• 肯德基 (Kěndéjī)

• 肯心兒／肯心儿
• 肯構肯堂／肯构肯堂
• 肯綮 (kěnqìng)
• 肯許／肯许
• 肯酒
• 自我肯定
• 阿肯色州
• 首肯 (shǒukěn)

References

• “肯”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

---

Japanese

Kanji

肯

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. to agree, to affirm, to consent

Readings

• Go-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)
• On: かい (kai)
• Kun: うべなう (ubenau, 肯う); がえんずる (gaenzuru, 肯んずる); がえんじる (gaenjiru, 肯んじる); あえて (aete, 肯えて); うけがう (ukegau, 肯う)

Compounds

• 肯(こう)綮(けい) (kōkei)
• 肯(こう)定(てい) (kōtei)

---

Korean

Hanja

肯 • (geung) (hangeul 긍, revised geung, McCune–Reischauer kŭng, Yale kung)

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

---

Vietnamese

Han character

肯: Hán Nôm readings: khẳng, khứng, khừng

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