衛

See also: 衞 and 卫

Translingual

Han character

衛 (Kangxi radical 144, 行+9 in Chinese, 行+10 in Japanese, 15 strokes in Chinese, 16 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 竹人木手弓 (HODQN), four-corner 2122₇, composition ⿲彳韋亍)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1109, character 29
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34073
• Dae Jaweon: page 1574, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 845, character 4
• Unihan data for U+885B

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Chinese

trad.		衛/衞
simp.		卫
alternative forms		䘙 𠀄

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 衛
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɢʷads) : semantic 行 + phonetic 韋 (OC *ɢʷɯl).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 衛

1. to guard; to protect; to defend
2. security guard
3. (～國) State of Wey during the Zhou dynasty
4. Short for 衛生／卫生 (wèishēng, “hygiene; health”).
5. Short for 衛生間／卫生间 (wèishēngjiān, “toilet; bathroom”).
6. (astronomy) satellite (in satellite names)
7. a surname

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Japanese

Shinjitai	衛
Kyūjitai	衞

Kanji

衛

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 衞)

1. defense
2. protection

Readings

• Go-on: え (e)^{←ゑ (we, historical)}
• Kan-on: えい (ei, Jōyō)^{←ゑい (wei, historical)}
• Kun: まもる (mamoru, 衛る); まもり (mamori)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
衛
えい Grade: 5
kan’on

Alternative spelling
衞 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 衛 (MC hjwejH).

The kan'on pronunciation, so likely a later borrowing.

Affix

衛(えい) • (ei) ^{←ゑい (wei)?}

1. defend; protect; guard

Proper noun

衛(えい) • (Ei) ^{←ゑい (wei)?}

1. (historical) Wey (state)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
衛
え Grade: 5
goon

Alternative spelling
衞 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 衛 (MC hjwejH).

The goon pronunciation, so likely the initial borrowing.

Affix

衛(え) • (e) ^{←ゑ (we)?}

1. (rare) defend; protect; guard

Etymology 3

Proper noun

衛(まもる) • (Mamoru) 

1. a male given name

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Korean

Hanja

衛 (eum 위 (wi))

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

衛: Hán Nôm readings: vệ

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