源

See also: 厵

源 U+6E90, 源 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6E90 ← 溏 [U+6E8F] CJK Unified Ideographs 溑 → [U+6E91]

Translingual

Han character

Stroke order

源 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 水一竹火 (EMHF), four-corner 3119₆, composition ⿰氵原)

Derived characters

• 𡀶, 𪒳, 𢢵

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 639, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17926
• Dae Jaweon: page 1046, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1697, character 2
• Unihan data for U+6E90

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		源
2nd round simp.		沅
alternative forms		原 厵 厡

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
羱	*ŋʷaːn, *ŋʷan
豲	*ɦŋʷaːn
謜	*sŋ̊ʰʷan, *ŋʷan
縓	*sŋ̊ʰʷan, *sŋ̊ʰʷans
原	*ŋʷan
源	*ŋʷan
厵	*ŋʷan
嫄	*ŋʷan
騵	*ŋʷan
榞	*ŋʷan
獂	*ŋʷan
蒝	*ŋʷan
願	*ŋʷans
傆	*ŋʷans
愿	*ŋʷans

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋʷan) and ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : semantic 水 (“water”) + phonetic 原 (OC *ŋʷan, “origin”).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 源

1. source of a river; headwaters; headspring; fountainhead
2. source; origin; root
3. a surname

Synonyms

• (source of a river): 水源 (shuǐyuán), 源頭／源头 (yuántóu)
• (source):

(deprecated template usage)

edit

• 來源／来源 (láiyuán)
• 出處／出处 (chūchù)
• 基本 (jīběn)
• 大本 (dàběn) (literary)
• 本源 (běnyuán)
• 根 (gēn)
• 根本 (gēnběn)
• 根源 (gēnyuán)
• 根頭／根头 (Xiamen Hokkien, Zhangzhou Hokkien)
• 泉源 (quányuán)
• 淵源／渊源 (yuānyuán)
• 源泉 (yuánquán) (figurative)
• 源頭／源头 (yuántóu) (figurative)
• 濫觴／滥觞 (lànshāng) (literary)
• 由來／由来 (yóulái)
• 起源 (qǐyuán)

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (源):

• → Japanese: 源(げん) (gen)
• → Korean: 원(源) (won)
• → Vietnamese: nguyên (源)

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Japanese

Kanji

源

(Sixth grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: ごん (gon)
• Kan-on: げん (gen, Jōyō)^{←げん (gen, historical)←ぐゑん (gwen, ancient)}
• Kan’yō-on: がん (gan)^{←ぐわん (gwan, historical)}
• Kun: みなもと (minamoto, 源, Jōyō)
• Nanori: はじめ (hajime)、もと (moto)、よし (yoshi)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
源
みなもと Grade: 6
kun'yomi

Derived from 水 (mi, “water”, combining form) +‎ な (na, Old Japanese possessive particle) +‎ 元, 本 (moto, “origin, source”).

Vovin believes that the na in the initial mina- element is not a genitive particle, but rather actually meant "water", contending that the mi was instead the honorific prefix 御 (mi-).

Noun

源(みなもと) • (minamoto) 

1. a fountainhead (source of a river)

   Synonym: 水源 (suigen)

2. a source, origin

   Synonyms: 起源 (kigen), 根源 (kongen), 本源 (hongen)

Proper noun

源(みなもと) or 源(proper) • (minamoto or proper) [[Category:Japanese
|みなもと]]

1. a surname, especially those who are descendants of Emperor Saga

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
源
げん Grade: 6
kan'on

From Middle Chinese 源 (MC ngjwon).

Noun

源(げん) • (gen) 

1. a source, origin

Affix

源(げん) • (gen) 

1. fountainhead
2. source, origin
3. Short for 源氏 (Genji): Minamoto clan

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 源(げん)委(い) (gen'i)
• 源(げん)氏(じ) (Genji)
• 源(げん)泉(せん) (gensen)
• 源(げん)平(ぺい)藤(とう)橘(きつ) (Genpeitōkitsu)
• 源(げん)流(りゅう) (genryū)
• 淵(えん)源(げん) (engen)
• 起(き)源(げん) (kigen)
• 語(ご)源(げん) (gogen)
• 根(こん)源(げん) (kongen)
• 光(こう)源(げん) (kōgen)
• 財(ざい)源(げん) (zaigen)
• 資(し)源(げん) (shigen)
• 字(じ)源(げん) (jigen)
• 震(しん)源(げん) (shingen)
• 塞(そく)源(げん) (sokugen)
• 電(でん)源(げん) (dengen)
• 同(どう)源(げん) (dōgen)
• 病(びょう)源(げん) (byōgen)
• 本(ほん)源(げん) (hongen)

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Korean

Hanja

源 • (won) (hangeul 원, revised won, McCune–Reischauer wŏn, Yale wen)

1. a spring
2. source

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Vietnamese

Han character

源: Hán Nôm readings: nguồn, nguyên, ngùn, nguyễn

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

References

• Nom Foundation