閑

See also: 闲, 閒, and 間

閑 U+9591, 閑 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9591 ← 閐 [U+9590] CJK Unified Ideographs 閒 → [U+9592]

Translingual

Traditional	閒
Simplified	闲
Japanese	閑
Korean	閑

Han character

閑 (Kangxi radical 169, 門+4, 12 strokes, Cangjie input 日弓木 (AND), four-corner 7790₄, composition ⿵門木)

Derived characters

• 嫻 (娴), 澖 (𰛵), 㯗 (𱣡), 䥜, 鷴 (鹇), 䔵

Additional Derived Characters

• 𰊨, 𢡿, 𤡦, 𨼝, 𭧴, 𣩝, 𦠯, 𥊺, 𨶓, 𲁞, 𨅽, 𩦃, 𬵬, 𮫐, 𤺛

Descendants

• 𛀟

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1332, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41247
• Dae Jaweon: page 1837, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4287, character 3
• Unihan data for U+9591

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 閑
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script

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

	Old Chinese
閑	*ɡreːn
嫻	*ɡreːn
鷴	*ɡreːn

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 門 (“door”) + 木 (“wood”) – a fence.

Etymology 1

For pronunciation and definitions of 閑 – see 閒 (“not busy; idle; vacant; unoccupied; unused; etc.”). (This character is a variant traditional form of 閒).

Etymology 2

trad.		閑
simp.		闲*

Related to 闌 (OC *ɡ·raːn, “railing; balustrade”), 欄 (OC *ɡ·raːn, “fence; railing”) and 攔 (OC *ɡ·raːn, “to obstruct”), and perhaps related to 練 (OC *ɡ·reːns, “to train”) (Schuessler, 2007). External comparanda may include Burmese ရန်း (ran:, “to erect railings, barriers”) or Mizo khâr (“to shut; to close; to shut off”) (ibid.).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xián (xian²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): haan⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xián
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sián
    • Wade–Giles: hsien²
    • Yale: syán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyan
    • Palladius: сянь (sjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯ɛn³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: haan⁴
    • Yale: hàahn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: haan⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: han⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /haːn²¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: hean

Rime
Character	閑
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	匣 (33)
Final (韻)	山 (73)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	戸閒切
Baxter	hean
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦˠɛn/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦᵚæn/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣæn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦəɨn/
Li Rong	/ɣɛn/
Wang Li	/ɣæn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ɣăn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	xián
Expected Cantonese Reflex	haan4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ɡ]ˤra[n]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡreːn/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	閑	閑
Reading #	4/4	3/4
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	xián	xián
Middle Chinese	‹ hɛn ›	‹ hɛn ›
Old Chinese	/*[ɡ]ˁra[n]/	/*[ɡ]ˁra[n]/
English	bar, barrier	well-trained
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	閑
Reading #	1/1
No.	13531
Phonetic component	閑
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	閑
Old Chinese	/*ɡreːn/

Definitions

閑

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) fence; bar; railings
2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) stable (building for horses)
3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) rule; law; limit; norm
4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to restrict; to restrain
5. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 嫻 / 娴 (xián, “to be familiar; to be skilled; to be practised”)
6. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to block; to guard against
7. 4th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "barrier" (𝌉)

Compounds

• 不閑 / 不闲
• 心閑 / 心闲
• 明媚閑雅 / 明媚闲雅
• 熟閑 / 熟闲
• 舉止閑冶 / 举止闲冶
• 蕩檢踰閑 / 荡检逾闲
• 踰閑 / 逾闲
• 踰閑蕩檢 / 逾闲荡检
• 閑邪存誠 / 闲邪存诚
• 閑雅 / 闲雅
• 防閑 / 防闲

Etymology 3

trad.		閑
simp.		闲*

Probably cognate with 介 (OC *kreːds, “to increase; to become great”) and perhaps derived from 嘏 (OC *kraːʔ, “large; great”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xián (xian²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): haan⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xián
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: sián
    • Wade–Giles: hsien²
    • Yale: syán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyan
    • Palladius: сянь (sjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯ɛn³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: haan⁴
    • Yale: hàahn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: haan⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: han⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /haːn²¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: hean

Rime
Character	閑
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	匣 (33)
Final (韻)	山 (73)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	戸閒切
Baxter	hean
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦˠɛn/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦᵚæn/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣæn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦəɨn/
Li Rong	/ɣɛn/
Wang Li	/ɣæn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ɣăn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	xián
Expected Cantonese Reflex	haan4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ɡ]ˤra[n]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɡreːn/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	閑
Reading #	2/4
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	xián
Middle Chinese	‹ hɛn ›
Old Chinese	/*[ɡ]ˁra[n]/
English	great; large-minded
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	閑
Reading #	1/1
No.	13531
Phonetic component	閑
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	閑
Old Chinese	/*ɡreːn/

Definitions

閑

1. (obsolete) large; great

   • 松桷有梴，旅楹有閑，寢成孔安。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     松桷有梴，旅楹有闲，寝成孔安。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Sōngjué yǒu chān, lǚyíng yǒu xián, qǐn chéng kǒng ān. [Pinyin]

     Long are the projecting beams of pine;
     Large are the many pillars.
     The temple was completed, – the tranquil abode [of his tablet].

   • 大知閑閑，小知閒閒。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     大知闲闲，小知闲闲。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Dà zhī xiánxián, xiǎo zhī xiánjiānjiān. [Pinyin]

     Great knowledge is wide and comprehensive; small knowledge is partial and restricted.

Japanese

Kanji

閑

(Jōyō kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: げん (gen)
• Kan-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)
• Kun: ひま (hima, 閑)、しずか (shizuka, 閑か)、ならう (narau, 閑う)、しきり (shikiri)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
閑
かん Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 閑 (MC hean).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かん [káꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [kã̠ɴ]

Affix

閑(かん) • (kan) 

1. tranquil; calm; quiet
2. free time; leisure
3. unimportant; useless

Noun

閑(かん) • (kan) 

1. free time; leisure

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
閑
ひま Grade: S
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 閑 – see the following entry.

【暇ひま】S [adjective] free; leisure; idle; vacant [noun] time, free time [noun] leisure, resting [noun] the time it takes to do something

(This term, 閑, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
閑
のど Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
和

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [no̞do̞]

Adjective

閑(のど) • (nodo) -na (adnominal 閑(のど)な (nodo na), adverbial 閑(のど)に (nodo ni))

1. (archaic) tranquil; calm; quiet; peaceful

Inflection

Inflection of 閑

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	閑だろ	のどだろ	nodo daro
Continuative (連用形)	閑で	のどで	nodo de
Terminal (終止形)	閑だ	のどだ	nodo da
Attributive (連体形)	閑な	のどな	nodo na
Hypothetical (仮定形)	閑なら	のどなら	nodo nara
Imperative (命令形)	閑であれ	のどであれ	nodo de are
Key constructions
Informal negative	閑ではない 閑じゃない	のどではない のどじゃない	nodo de wa nai nodo ja nai
Informal past	閑だった	のどだった	nodo datta
Informal negative past	閑ではなかった 閑じゃなかった	のどではなかった のどじゃなかった	nodo de wa nakatta nodo ja nakatta
Formal	閑です	のどです	nodo desu
Formal negative	閑ではありません 閑じゃありません	のどではありません のどじゃありません	nodo de wa arimasen nodo ja arimasen
Formal past	閑でした	のどでした	nodo deshita
Formal negative past	閑ではありませんでした 閑じゃありませんでした	のどではありませんでした のどじゃありませんでした	nodo de wa arimasen deshita nodo ja arimasen deshita
Conjunctive	閑で	のどで	nodo de
Conditional	閑なら（ば）	のどなら（ば）	nodo nara (ba)
Provisional	閑だったら	のどだったら	nodo dattara
Volitional	閑だろう	のどだろう	nodo darō
Adverbial	閑に	のどに	nodo ni
Degree	閑さ	のどさ	nodosa

References

• “^△閑”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

Korean

Hanja

閑 (eumhun 한가할 한 (han'gahal han))

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Vietnamese

Han character

閑: Hán Nôm readings: nhàn, hèn

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