蚕

See also: 蠶

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

Translingual

Japanese	蚕
Simplified	蚕
Traditional	蠶

Han character

蚕 (Kangxi 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)

Derived characters

• 𱐈, 𰯁, 𧍦, 𧎕, 𥱄, 䘉, 𮇀

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: 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

Etymology 1

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
簪	*ʔsɯːm, *ʔsrɯm
撍	*ʔsluːm, *ʔsluːmʔ, *ʔsluːms, *ʔsrum
鐕	*ʔsluːm
憯	*sʰluːmʔ, *sʰlɯːmʔ
噆	*sʰluːmʔ, *ʔsluːb
朁	*sʰlɯːmʔ, *zlam
蠶	*zluːm
蚕	*zluːm, *hl'iːnʔ
糣	*sluːmʔ
熸	*ʔslom
鬵	*zlam, *zɯm, *ljɯm
灊	*zlam, *zɯm, *ljɯm
潛	*zlom, *zloms
僭	*ʔslɯːms
兓	*sl'ɯm
嶜	*zlum
兂	*ʔsrɯm
譖	*ʔsrums

Definitions

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

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 / 形声, OC *zluːm, *hl'iːnʔ): phonetic 天 (OC *qʰl'iːn) + semantic 虫 (“insect”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tiǎn (tian³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄢˇ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tiǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tiǎn
    • Wade–Giles: tʻien³
    • Yale: tyǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tean
    • Palladius: тянь (tjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰi̯ɛn²¹⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: thenX

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
Baxter	thenX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰenX/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰenX/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɛnX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰɛnX/
Li Rong	/tʰenX/
Wang Li	/tʰienX/
Bernhard Karlgren	/tʰienX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tiǎn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	tin2

• 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 (qiǎntiǎn, “earthworm”)

References

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

Japanese

Shinjitai	蚕
Kyūjitai	蠶

Kanji

蚕

(Sixth grade 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

Alternative spelling
蠶 (kyūjitai)

Compound of 飼(か)い (kai, 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 飼(か)う (kau, “to raise (an animal)”)) + 蚕(こ) (ko, “silkworm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ka̠iko̞]
• (Tokyo) かいこ [káꜜìkò] (Atamadaka – [1])

• (Kyōto) かい​こ [kàíꜜkò] (Teiki)

Noun

蚕(かいこ) or 蚕(カイコ) • (kaiko) ^{←かひこ (kafiko)?}

1. the silkworm (Bombyx mori)
2. the larva of a silkworm
3. sericulture
4. (thief or stallkeeper cant, obsolete) silk (of clothing)

Usage notes

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

Etymology 2

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

Alternative spelling
蠶 (kyūjitai)

Some sources derive this from 子(こ) (ko, “child”), but the pitch accents do not match.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ko̞]
• (Tokyo) こ [kóꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])

Noun

蚕(こ) • (ko) 

1. (obsolete) silkworm

Further reading

• “蚕”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[4] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

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}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

蚕: Hán Việt readings: tàm
蚕: Nôm readings: tằm, tòm

1. Variant of 蠶, see there for more details.
2. chữ Nôm form of tằm (“silkworm”)