鹿

Translingual

Stroke order

Etymology

鹿

Historical forms of the character 鹿
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) – a deer. Current form is highly abstracted – legs have transformed to 比 – note grouping of front and rear legs, which are bent – head has transformed to middle component (similar to 凸/曲), while antlers on top and extended lip/mouth on left transformed into 广. This simplification occurred during seal characters.

Contrast the very different development of 馬 ‎(“horse”), and the hybrid simplification in 𢊁 ‎(“bison”) (as in 薦), which has the head of 鹿 but the legs of 馬 (灬).

Han character

鹿 (radical 198 鹿+0, 11 strokes, cangjie input 戈X心 (IXP), four-corner 0021₁)

1. deer
2. used as a surname
3. Kangxi radical #198, ⿅ ‎(“deer”).

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/鹿
• 塵

Related characters

• 𢊁 (as in 薦)

References

• KangXi: page 1508, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 47586
• Dae Jaweon: page 2036, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4727, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9E7F

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		鹿

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lù (lu⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄨˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): luk⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): lu̍k
• Min Nan (POJ): lo̍k

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: lù
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄨˋ
    • Wade-Giles: lu⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: luh
    • IPA ^(key): /lu⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: luk⁶
    • Yale: luhk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: luk⁹
    • IPA ^(key): /lʊk̚²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: lu̍k
    • Hakka Romanization System: lug
    • Hagfa Pinyim: lug⁶
    • IPA: /luk̚⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lo̍k
    • Tâi-lô: lo̍k
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lok
    • IPA (Taipei): /lɔk̚⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /lɔk̚¹²¹/

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• Dialectal data▼

Variety	Location	edit 鹿
Mandarin	Beijing	/lu⁵¹/
	Harbin	/lu⁵³/
	Tianjin	/lu⁵³/
	Jinan	/lu²¹/
	Qingdao	/lu²⁴/
	Zhengzhou	/lu²⁴/
	Xi'an	/lu²¹/
	Xining	/lv̩⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/lu¹³/
	Lanzhou	/lu¹³/
	Ürümqi	/lu²¹³/
	Wuhan	/nəu²¹³/
	Chengdu	/nu³¹/
	Guiyang	/nu²¹/
	Kunming	/lu³¹/
	Nanjing	/luʔ⁵/
	Hefei	/luəʔ⁵/
Jin	Taiyuan	/luəʔ²/
	Pingyao	/luʌʔ⁵³/
	Hohhot	/luəʔ⁴³/
Wu	Shanghai	/loʔ¹/
	Suzhou	/loʔ³/
	Hangzhou	/loʔ²/
	Wenzhou	/lɤu²¹³/
Hui	Shexian	/lu²²/
	Tunxi	/ləu¹¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/ləu²⁴/
	Xiangtan	/nəɯ²⁴/
Gan	Nanchang	/luʔ⁵/
Hakka	Meixian	/luk̚⁵/
	Taoyuan	/luk̚⁵⁵/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/lok̚²/
	Nanning	/luk̚²²/
	Hong Kong	/luk̚²/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/lɔk̚⁵/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/løyʔ⁵/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/lu⁴²/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/tek̚⁵/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/lok̚⁵/ /ʔdiak̚³/

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• Middle Chinese: /luk̚/▼

Rime
Character	鹿
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	屋 (3)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	盧谷切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/luk̚/
Pan Wuyun	/luk̚/
Shao Rongfen	/luk̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ləwk̚/
Li Rong	/luk̚/
Wang Li	/luk̚/
Bernard Karlgren	/luk̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lù

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter-Sagart): /*mə-rˤok/

  (Zhengzhang): /*b·roːɡ/

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	鹿
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lù
Middle Chinese	‹ luwk ›
Old Chinese	/*mə-rˤok/
English	deer
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	鹿
Reading #	1/1
No.	8565
Phonetic component	鹿
Rime group	屋
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	禄
Old Chinese	/*b·roːɡ/

Noun

鹿

1. deer

Synonyms

• 鹿仔

References

• (Min Nan) “Entry #8111”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

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Japanese

Kanji

鹿

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. deer

Readings

• Goon: ろく (roku)
• Kan’on: ろく (roku)
• Kun: か (ka), しか (shika), かせぎ (kasegi) (non-Jōyō reading), かのしし, (kanoshishi) (non-Jōyō reading), しし (shishi) (non-Jōyō reading)

Compounds

Compounds

葦鹿 (あしか) ‎(ashika): sea lion 大鹿 (おおじか) ‎(ōjika): moose 氈鹿 (かもしか) ‎(kamoshika): serow 鹿猪 (しかいのしし) ‎(shikainoshishi): babirusa 鹿肉 (しかにく) ‎(shikaniku): venison 麝香鹿 (じゃこうじか) ‎(jakōjika): musk deer

馴鹿 (トナカイ) ‎(tonakai), 馴鹿 (じゅんろく) ‎(junroku): reindeer 日本鹿 (にほんじか) ‎(nihonjika): sika deer 馬鹿 (ばか) ‎(baka): fool 麋鹿 (びろく) ‎(biroku): moose and deer 箆鹿 (へらじか) ‎(herajika): moose 鹿砦 (ろくさい) ‎(rokusai): abatis

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
鹿
か Grade: S
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ka̠]

Noun

鹿 ‎(hiragana か, romaji ka)

1. (archaic) deer

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
鹿
しか Grade: S
kun'yomi

/seka/ → /sika/

Originally a compound of 夫 ‎(se, “male”) +‎ 鹿 ‎(ka, “deer”), in contrast to 女鹿 ‎(meka, “female deer”, archaic).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) しか [shìká] (Heiban - [0])
• (Tokyo) しか​ [shìkáꜜ] (Odaka - [2])
• IPA^(key): [ɕika̠]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

鹿 ‎(hiragana しか, romaji shika)

1. deer

   奈良公園 (ならこうえん)には鹿 (しか)しかいない。

   Nara kōen ni wa shika shika inai.

   There is nothing but deer in Nara Park.

Idioms

Idioms

鹿 (しか)を逐 (お)う者 (もの)は山 (やま)を見 (み)ず ‎(shika o ou mono wa yama o mizu): “someone chasing a deer doesn't see the mountain” → a metaphor for how someone who is fixed on a target can be oblivious to the challenges in the way

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
鹿
かせぎ Grade: S
kun'yomi

From the resemblance to a 桛木 ‎(kasegi, “cross-shaped spindle; a branching point in a tree”)

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ka̠se̞ɡ̃i]

Noun

鹿 ‎(hiragana かせぎ, romaji kasegi)

1. (archaic) deer
   • 1212: Hōjōki

     山鳥 (やまどり)のほろと鳴 (な)くを聞 (き)きても、父 (ちち)か母 (はは)かと疑 (うたが)ひ、峰 (みね)のかせぎの近 (ちか)くなれたるにつけても、世 (よ)に遠 (とお)ざかるほどを知 (し)る。

     Yamadori no horo to naku o kikite mo, chichi ka haha ka to utagahi, mine no kasegi no chikaku naretaru ni tsukete mo, yo ni tōzakaru hodo oshiru.

     Hearing the horo call of the mountain pheasant, wondering if it were my father or mother [calling from beyond the grave], and seeing how the deer on the ridge are so tame that they come close by, all of it shows me how far away I am from the world.

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term
鹿
かのしし Grade: S
kun'yomi

Originally a compound of 鹿 ‎(ka, “deer”) +‎ の ‎(no, possessive particle) +‎ 肉 ‎(しし, “meat, flesh”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [kã̠no̞ɕiɕi]

Alternative forms

• 鹿の肉

Noun

鹿 ‎(hiragana かのしし, romaji kanoshishi)

1. (archaic) deer
2. deer meat: venison

Etymology 5

Kanji in this term
鹿
しし Grade: S
kun'yomi

From 肉 ‎(shishi, “meat, flesh”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) し​し [shíꜜshì] (Atamadaka - [1])
• IPA^(key): [ɕiɕi]

Alternative forms

• 獣, 猪

Noun

鹿 ‎(hiragana しし, romaji shishi)

1. (archaic) a beast (used for its meat, such as a boar or a deer)
2. short for 猪武者 ‎(inoshishi musha): a reckless warrior
3. short for 鹿狩り ‎(shishi-gari): a deer hunter
4. (slang) a female attendant at a bathhouse or hot spring
5. (slang, archaic) a female prostitute at a bathhouse or hot spring

Usage notes

The beast sense is more commonly spelled 獣.

Etymology 6

Kanji in this term
鹿
ろく Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 鹿 ‎(luwk, “deer”). Compare modern Min Nan reading lo̍k.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• (Tokyo) ろく [ròkú] (Heiban - [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɺ̠o̞kɯᵝ]

Noun

鹿 ‎(hiragana ろく, romaji roku)

1. deer
2. venison or wild boar meat

References

• Ichiko, Teiji (1212) Hōjōki (Shintei), Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-00-301001-9, published 1989
• Nishio, Minoru (1957) Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Hōjōki, Tsurezuregusa, Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-00-060030-3

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Korean

Hanja

鹿 • ‎(rok, nok) (hangeul 록, 녹, revised rok, nok, McCune-Reischauer rok, nok, Yale lok, nok)

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

鹿 (lộc, lê)

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