龍

See also: 龙 and 竜

龍 U+9F8D, 龍 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9F8D ← 龌 [U+9F8C] CJK Unified Ideographs 龎 → [U+9F8E]

⿓ U+2FD3, ⿓ KANGXI RADICAL DRAGON ← ⿒ [U+2FD2] Kangxi Radicals ⿔ → [U+2FD4]

龍 U+F9C4, 龍 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9C4 ← 遼 [U+F9C3] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 暈 → [U+F9C5]

Translingual

Stroke order

Traditional	龍
Shinjitai	竜
Simplified	龙

Han character

龍 (Kangxi radical 212, 龍+0, 16 strokes, cangjie input 卜月卜尸心 (YBYSP), four-corner 0121₁, composition ⿰𦚏⿱⺊⿷己三)

1. Kangxi radical #212, ⿓.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №427

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/龍
• 瀧, 爖, 瓏, 朧, 儱, 嚨, 壠, 巄, 徿, 攏, 曨, 櫳, 矓, 礲, 蠬, 襱, 豅, 贚, 躘, 鑨, 隴
• 䆍, 䌬, 䏊, 䡁, 䪊, 䮾, 𢤱, 𤜆, 𤳽, 𦢫, 𦪽, 𧲖, 𨏠, 𨳁, 𩟭, 𪐖, 𫲘, 𮙇, 𣰵, 𧾪, 𩙘
• 𪈗, 𫑰, 𫦞, 𫿤, 𦒮, 寵, 巃, 竉, 籠, 蘢, 靇, 𠖥, 𦌼, 𩰀, 𪔷, 𫅍
• 𡃡, 𡾩, 𢤲, 𢸭, 𤮨, 𦪿, 𨇘, 𪎁, 聾, 襲, 壟, 礱, 蠪, 讋, 驡, 鸗, 㰍, 龐, 𤼃

Related characters

• 竜 (Japanese shinjitai, also an ancient form of 龍)
• 龙 (Simplified Chinese)

Further reading

Wikisource

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1536, character 33
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 48818
• Dae Jaweon: page 2076, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4803, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9F8D

• Unihan data for U+F9C4

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Chinese

trad.		龍
simp.		龙
alternative forms		㡣 䮾／𩧪 䰱 竜 龒 㡣 䮾／𩧪 䰱 竜 龒 𠉒 𠊋 𢀀 𢄫 𢅛 𥪐 𥪑 𥪖 𥪢 𥫆 𥫈 𦱉 𦱸

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 龍
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
驡	*ʔslaːŋʔ, *roŋ
龐	*broːŋ
瀧	*rroːŋ, *sroːŋ, *roːŋ
籠	*roːŋ, *roːŋʔ, *roŋ
豅	*roːŋ
朧	*roːŋ, *roŋs
龓	*roːŋ, *roːŋʔ
聾	*roːŋ
礱	*roːŋ, *roːŋs
嚨	*roːŋ
蘢	*roːŋ, *roŋ
櫳	*roːŋ
襱	*roːŋ, *roːŋʔ, *r'oŋʔ
瓏	*roːŋ
曨	*roːŋ, *roːŋʔ
鸗	*roːŋ, *roŋ
蠪	*roːŋ
巃	*roːŋʔ
竉	*roːŋʔ
攏	*roːŋʔ
儱	*roːŋʔ, *roŋs
龍	*b·roŋ, *mroːŋ
躘	*roŋ, *roŋs
隴	*roŋʔ
壠	*roŋʔ
壟	*roŋʔ
寵	*r̥ʰoŋʔ
龏	*kloŋ, *kloŋs, *qroːɡ

Pictogram (象形) – originally a serpent with prominent whiskered mouth and eyes.

Current form developed in large seal script, with serpent’s body on right (tail at upper right, legs on right), whiskered/fanged mouth at lower left, and eyes/crown at upper left. Left side was subsequently simplified and abstracted, with some influence of 立 and ⺼/月. Note that 竜 existed as a traditional variant dating back to large seal script, and figures a dragon seen face-on, rather than curled around.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-bru(ŋ/k) (“dragon; thunder”). Cognate with Tibetan འབྲུག ('brug, “dragon; thunder”). The STEDT database also lists 隆 (OC *ɡ·ruːŋ, “thunder; sound of thunder”) and 雹 (OC *bruːɡ, “hail”) as cognates. Also compare 靐 (OC *brɯŋs, “sound of thunder”) and 霹靂 (OC *pʰeːɡ reːɡ, “thunder”).

This word is found in many languages of the region. Compare Proto-Hmong-Mien *-roŋ (“dragon”) (White Hmong zaj), Proto-Vietic *-roːŋ (“dragon”) (Vietnamese rồng), Vietnamese thuồng luồng (“serpent-like monster”), Khmer រោង (roong, “year of the dragon”), Thai มะโรง (má-roong, “dragon; year of the dragon”), Lao ມະໂລງ (ma lōng, “year of the dragon”), perhaps also Old Turkic [script needed] (*-lan, suffix denoting a wild, predatory animal) (Turkish aslan (“lion”), kaplan (“tiger”), yılan (“snake”)).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 龍

1. (mythology) Chinese dragon (Classifier: 條／条)
2. (mythology) Western dragon
3. (figurative) emperor; sovereign; king; of the emperor

   龍椅／龙椅  ―  lóngyǐ  ―  imperial chair

4. (figurative) chief; hero; towering figure
5. (by extension) dragon-shaped object; long object
6. (by extension) dragon-adorned object
7. (zoology, paleontology) extinct reptilian creature; -saur

   恐龍／恐龙  ―  kǒnglóng  ―  dinosaur

   翼手龍／翼手龙  ―  yìshǒulóng  ―  pterodactyl

8. (Eastern Min) to become clear-minded; to be revitalised
9. (Cantonese, soccer and other sports) goal
10. (Cantonese) queue; line (Classifier: 條／条 c)

    排長龍／排长龙 [Cantonese]  ―  paai⁴ zoeng² lung⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  to form a long queue

11. (Hong Kong Cantonese, slang) money
12. (Hong Kong Cantonese, slang) snake meat
13. (Shanghainese, slang) a hundred of a currency designation

    Template:zh-syn

14. a surname

    龍雲／龙云  ―  Lóng Yún  ―  Long Yun (Yunnan warlord)

Compounds

• See 龍/derived terms § Dragon (Chinese).

Descendants

• See 龍/derived terms § Descendants.

See also

• (Chinese zodiac signs) (~年) 鼠 (shǔ), 牛 (niú), 虎 (hǔ), 兔 (tù), 龍／龙 (lóng), 蛇 (shé), 馬／马 (mǎ), 羊 (yáng), 猴 (hóu), 雞／鸡 (jī), 狗 (gǒu), 豬／猪 (zhū) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese zodiac signs)}

References

• “龍”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Shinjitai	竜
Kyūjitai	龍

Kanji

龍

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 竜)

Readings

• Go-on: りゅう (ryū)^{←りゆう (ryuu, historical)}
• Kan-on: りょう (ryō)^{←りよう (ryou, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: ろう (rō)^{←ろう (rou, historical)}
• Kun: たつ (tatsu, 龍)
• Nanori: かみ (kami)、きみ (kimi)、しげみ (shigemi)、とお (tō)、とおる (tōru)、めぐむ (megumu)

Compounds

• See 龍/derived terms § Kanji (Japanese).

Usage notes

• This kanji is the 旧字体 (kyūjitai) form of simplified 竜, itself as isolated 新字体 (shinjitai) kanji, but is used in Jōyō characters 襲 and 籠, with the latter categorized as Jōyō as of 2010.
• Although it is officially simplified into 竜, 龍 is often used instead for certain words for its aesthetics (such as in literary contexts or for spelling words borrowed from Chinese). For example, 烏龍茶 (ūroncha, “oolong tea”) is rarely spelled as 烏竜茶.

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
龍
りゅう Jinmeiyō
goon

Alternative spelling
竜

From Middle Chinese 龍 (MC ljowng).

The 呉音 (goon, literally “Wu sound”) reading, so likely the initial borrowing from Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

• Some dictionaries classify this reading as 慣用音 (kanyōon, literally “commonly-accepted sound”) instead of 呉音 (goon).

Noun

1. Kyūjitai form of 竜: a Chinese dragon
2. Kyūjitai form of 竜: Synonym of ドラゴン (doragon): a Western dragon
3. Kyūjitai form of 竜: (shogi, colloquial) Short for 龍王 (ryūō): dragon king; promoted rook
4. a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) with a Chinese dragon design

Derived terms

• See 龍/derived terms § Dragon (Japanese).

Affix

1. Kyūjitai form of 竜: dragon
2. Kyūjitai form of 竜: hero
3. Kyūjitai form of 竜: imperial
4. Kyūjitai form of 竜: dinosaur

Derived terms

• See 龍/derived terms § Dragon (2) (Japanese).

Proper noun

1. (astronomy) Short for りゅう座 (Ryūza): the constellation Draco
2. a male given name
3. a surname

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
龍
りょう Jinmeiyō
kan'on

Alternative spelling
竜

From Middle Chinese 龍 (MC ljowng).

The 漢音 (kan'on, literally “Han sound”) reading, so likely a later borrowing from Middle Chinese.

Noun

1. Kyūjitai form of 竜: (rare or in Chinese contexts) a Chinese dragon

Affix

1. Kyūjitai form of 竜: dragon
2. Kyūjitai form of 竜: hero
3. Kyūjitai form of 竜: imperial

Derived terms

• See 龍/derived terms § Dragon (3) (Japanese).

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
龍
たつ Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
竜

⟨tatu⟩ → /tat͡su/

From Old Japanese.

Noun

1. Kyūjitai form of 竜: (mythology) a Japanese dragon
   • 938, Minamoto no Shitagō, Wamyō Ruijushō, volume 19:

     龍　文字集略云：「龍（力鍾反。和名：太都）四足五采甚有神靈者也。」白虎通云：「鱗虫三百六十六而龍爲之長也。」

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

• See 龍/derived terms § Dragon (4) (Japanese).

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Korean

Alternative forms

• 竜

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 龍 (MC ljowng). Recorded as Middle Korean 료ᇰ (lyong) (Yale: lyong) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɾjoŋ] ~ [joŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [룡/용]

Hanja

Wikisource

龍 (eumhun 미르 용 (mireu yong))

1. hanja form^? of 룡/용 (“dragon”)

Compounds

• See 龍/derived terms § Dragon (Korean).

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

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Old Japanese

Etymology

Possibly from the verb 立つ (tatu, “to rise, stand”).

Noun

龍 (tatu) (kana たつ)

1. a Japanese dragon

Usage notes

Also used once phonetically as a 借訓 (shakkun) for ⟨tatu⟩.

Derived terms

• 龍田 (Tatuta)
• 龍の馬 (tatu no₂ ma)

Descendants

• Japanese: 竜, 龍 (tatsu)

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Pai-lang

Etymology

Coblin, reconstructing the Pai-lang pronunciation as *gljung, suggests that it derives from and retains its consonant cluster, which was lost in Proto-Lolo-Burmese. Compare Tibetan ལྗོངས (ljongs), Chinese 谷 (OC *kloːɡ).

Noun

1. gorge

References

• W. South Coblin, "A New Study of the Pai-lang Songs" (1979), Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 12:179–216
• Christopher I. Beckwith, "The Pai-lang songs: The earliest texts in a Tibeto-Burman language and their Late Old Chinese transcriptions" (2008), in Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages III

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Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• 竜 (long)

Han character

龍: Hán Việt readings: long (盧(lô)容(dung)切(thiết))
龍: Nôm readings: long, lung, lỏng, lúng, luông, luồng

1. chữ Hán form of long (“dragon”).
2. chữ Hán form of Long (“a male given name”).

Compounds

• See 龍/derived terms § Dragon (Vietnamese).