蚕

See also: 蠶

蚕 U+8695, 蚕 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8695 ← 蚔 [U+8694] CJK Unified Ideographs 蚖 → [U+8696]

Translingual

Han character

蚕 (radical 142, 虫+4, 10 strokes, cangjie input 竹大中一戈 (HKLMI) or 一大中一戈 (MKLMI), four-corner 2013₆, composition ⿱天虫)

References

• KangXi: page 1077, character 38
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32869
• Dae Jaweon: page 1546, character 31
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2837, character 2
• Unihan data for U+8695

---

Chinese

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
添	*tʰiːm
忝	*l̥ʰiːmʔ, *l̥ʰiːms
悿	*tʰiːmʔ
舔	*l̥ʰiːmʔ
菾	*diːm
天	*qʰl'iːn
吞	*qʰl'iːn, *qʰl'ɯːn
祆	*qʰliːn
蚕	*zluːm, *hl'iːnʔ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *zluːm, *hl'iːnʔ): phonetic 天 (OC *qʰl'iːn) + semantic 虫 (“insect”).

Etymology 1

For pronunciation and definitions of 蚕 – see 蠶 (“silkworm”). (This character, 蚕, is the simplified form of 蠶.)

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.		蚕
alternative forms		𧉂

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tiǎn (tian³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄢˇ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: tiǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄢˇ
    • Wade–Giles: tʻien3
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tean
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tiǎn
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰjɛn²¹⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: /tʰen^X/

Rime
Character	蚕
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	透 (6)
Final (韻)	先 (85)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	他典切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰenX/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰenX/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɛnX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰɛnX/
Li Rong	/tʰenX/
Wang Li	/tʰienX/
Bernard Karlgren	/tʰienX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tiǎn

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*hl'iːnʔ/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	蚕
Reading #	2/2
No.	12390
Phonetic component	天
Rime group	眞
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	腆
Old Chinese	/*hl'iːnʔ/
Notes	見爾雅

Definitions

蚕

1. Only used in 蜸蚕／𰲮蚕 (qiǎntiǎn, “earthworm”).

References

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), B04234

---

Japanese

Shinjitai	蚕
Kyūjitai	蠶

Kanji

蚕

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 蠶)

1. silkworm

Readings

• Go-on: ぞん (zon)^{←ぞん (zon, historical)←ぞむ (zomu, ancient)}; てん (ten)
• Kan-on: さん (san, Jōyō)^{←さん (san, historical)←さむ (samu, ancient)}; てん (ten)
• Kun: かいこ (kaiko, 蚕, Jōyō); こ (ko, 蚕)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
蚕
かいこ Grade: 6
kun’yomi

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) か​いこ [káꜜìkò] (Atamadaka – [1])
  • IPA^(key): [ka̠iko̞]

Noun

蚕(かいこ) • (kaiko) 

1. the silkworm (Bombyx mori)

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as カイコ.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
蚕
こ Grade: 6
kun’yomi

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [ko̞]

Noun

蚕(こ) • (ko) 

1. (obsolete) silkworm

---

Korean

Hanja

蚕 • (cheon, jam) (hangeul 천, 잠, revised cheon, jam, McCune–Reischauer ch'ŏn, cham, Yale chen, cam)

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