令和

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U+32FF, ㋿
SQUARE ERA NAME REIWA

[U+32FE]
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months
[U+3300]

Chinese

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make or cause to be; order; command
make or cause to be; order; command; decree; honourable
 
mix together; peace; harmony
mix together; peace; harmony; and; with; union; cap (a poem); respond in singing; soft; warm
 
trad. (令和)
simp. #(令和)
Wikipedia has articles on:

Etymology

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From Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 令和 (Reiwa).

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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令和

  1. Reiwa era of Japanese history


Japanese

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Kanji in this term
れい
Grade: 4

Grade: 3
kan'on goon
Alternative spellings

R (abbreviation)
Extract of volume 5 of the Man'yōshū where the kanji characters 令和 (Reiwa) are derived.

Etymology

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From the Literary Chinese foreword by Ōtomo no Tabito to poems 815-846 in the fifth book of the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE). Relevant part of the foreword:

于時、初春披鏡前之薫珮後之。(初春の令月にして、気淑く風和らぎ、梅は鏡前の粉を披き、蘭は珮後の香を薫す。)
It was in new spring, in a fair month,
When the air was clear and the wind a gentle breeze.
Plum flowers blossomed a beauty's charming white
And the fragrance of the orchids was their sweet perfume.

The Man'yōshū passage alludes in turn to a rhapsody written in 138 CE by the Han polymath and statesman Zhang Heng, titled 歸田賦归田赋 (Guītián Fù, Return to the Field).[1] Below is the relevant part of the rhapsody with translation by Liu Wu-chi (1990), with slightly different choices of English for the same Chinese words:

於是百草 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
于是百草 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Return to the Field, by Zhang Heng, 138 CE
Yúshì zhòng chūn lìngyuè, shí qì qīng; yuán xí yù mào, bǎicǎo zī róng. [Pinyin]
Then comes young spring, in a fine month,
When the wind is mild and the air clear.
Plains and swamps are overgrown with verdure
And the hundred grasses become rank and thick.

With reference to both contexts, a general understanding of this kanji compound is thus along the lines of "good harmony", though it should be noted that this sense of "good" of the common character (rei) is otherwise very rare.

Pronunciation

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  • (Tokyo) ーわ [réꜜèwà] (Atamadaka – [1])
  • (Tokyo) ーわ [rèéwá] (Heiban – [0])
  • IPA(key): [ɾe̞ːβ̞a̠]
  • Audio:(file)

Proper noun

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 令和 on Japanese Wikipedia
 Reiwa era on Wikipedia

(れい)() (Reiwa

  1. the Reiwa era, 2019-present

Descendants

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  • English: Reiwa
  • Chinese:
  • Korean: 레이와 (Reiwa)
  • Vietnamese: Reiwa, Lệnh Hoà, Lệnh Hòa

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Akihiro Sadake, Hideo Yamada, Isao Kudo, Masao Otani, Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (2017 November 10) “Man'yōshū, part 1”, in Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei [The New Compendium of Classical Japanese Literature] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

Vietnamese

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chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Proper noun

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令和

  1. chữ Hán form of Lệnh Hoà, Lệnh Hòa (Reiwa era of Japanese history).