Radical 194 or radical ghost (鬼部) meaning "ghost" or "demon" is one of the 8 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 10 strokes.
| 鬼 | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| 鬼 (U+9B3C) "ghost, demon" | ||
| Pronunciations | ||
| Pinyin: | guǐ | |
| Bopomofo: | ㄍㄨㄟˇ | |
| Wade–Giles: | kuei3 | |
| Cantonese Yale: | gwai2 | |
| Jyutping: | gwai2 | |
| Japanese Kana: | キ ki (on'yomi) おに oni (kun'yomi) | |
| Sino-Korean: | 귀 gwi | |
| Hán-Việt: | quỷ, khuỷu, quẽ, quỉ | |
| Names | ||
| Japanese name(s): | 鬼/おに oni 鬼繞/きにょう kinyō | |
| Hangul: | 귀신 gwisin | |
| Stroke order animation | ||
 | ||
鬼 (9 strokes in Simplified Chinese) is also the 184th indexing component in the Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components predominantly adopted by Simplified Chinese dictionaries published in mainland China.
Evolution
edit-
Oracle bone script character
-
Bronze script character
-
Large seal script character
-
Small seal script character
The character is historically composed of 儿 "legs", 田 representing a large demon's head and a curl looking similar to 厶 taken to represent a swirl of vapour, or a demon's tail.
The character can be traced to the oracle bone script, where it depicts a man kneeling on a monster head.
Derived characters
edit| Strokes | Characters |
|---|---|
| +0 | 鬼 |
| +3 | 鬽 (=魅) |
| +4 | 鬾 鬿 魀 魁 魂 |
| +5 | 魃 魄 魅 魆 |
| +6 | 魇SC (=魘) |
| +7 | 魈 魉SC (=魎) |
| +8 | 魊 魋 魌 魍 魎 魏 |
| +10 | 魐 |
| +11 | 魑 魒 魓 魔 |
| +12 | 魕 魖 |
| +14 | 魗 魘 魙 |
Most of the characters derived from the radical have meanings related to ghosts or souls, including 魔 "devil, demon", 魑 "black magic", 魘 "nightmare", 魄 "soul". In some signs, however, the radical is present purely as a phonetic marker, for example in 魏, the State of Wei during the Spring and Autumn period.
Variant forms
edit| Kangxi Dict. Trad. Chinese (TW/HK/MO) Japanese Korean |
Mainland China |
|---|---|
| 鬼 | 鬼 |
Literature
edit- Fazzioli, Edoardo (1987). Chinese calligraphy : from pictograph to ideogram : the history of 214 essential Chinese/Japanese characters. calligraphy by Rebecca Hon Ko. New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN 0-89659-774-1.
- Li, Leyi: “Tracing the Roots of Chinese Characters: 500 Cases”. Beijing 1993, ISBN 978-7-5619-0204-2
- Harbaugh, Rick, Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary, Yale University Press (1998), ISBN 978-0-9660750-0-7.[1]
- Childs-Johnson, Elizabeth (江伊莉), 甲骨文的“鬼”与假面具 (The Gui-Spirit in Oracle Bone Inscriptions), International Conference Celebrating the 95th Anniversary of the Discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions", Anyang, China, 1994.