燮

燮 U+71EE, 燮 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-71EE ← 燭 [U+71ED] CJK Unified Ideographs 燯 → [U+71EF]

Translingual

Han character

燮 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+13, 17 strokes, cangjie input 火火水 (FFE), four-corner 9940₇, composition ⿱⿲火言火又)

Derived characters

• 㦪 㰔 𤫉 躞 㽊 𠑄 𡄕 𢹒 𪱓 𪸂 𥍆 𧕊 𩎃 𩙜

Further reading

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 685, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19481
• Dae Jaweon: page 1098, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 402, character 12
• Unihan data for U+71EE

Chinese

trad.		燮
simp. #		燮
alternative forms		爕 夑 㸉 𤏻 𤎬 爕 夑 㸉 𤏻 𤎬 𤍛

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
燮	*seːb
躞	*seːb

In the oracle bone script, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : a hand (又) holding an object (?) among three or more fires (火). Meaning and significance uncertain.

Various hypotheses exist: possibly poking at firewood, holding a tool inside flames, lighting fires with a torch, etc.

Later, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 又 (“hand”) + 辛 (“tool”) + 炏 (“fire”). In the small seal script, the 辛 component came to be written 言, giving rise to the modern form.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xiè (xie⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄝˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sit³ / sip³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xiè
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄝˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: siè
    • Wade–Giles: hsieh⁴
    • Yale: syè
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shieh
    • Palladius: се (se)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi̯ɛ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: sit³ / sip³
    • Yale: sit / sip
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sit⁸ / sip⁸
    • Guangdong Romanization: xid³ / xib³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siːt̚³/, /siːp̚³/

---

• Middle Chinese: sep

Rime
Character	燮
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	心 (16)
Final (韻)	怗 (158)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	蘇協切
Baxter	sep
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/sep̚/
Pan Wuyun	/sep̚/
Shao Rongfen	/sɛp̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/sɛp̚/
Li Rong	/sep̚/
Wang Li	/siep̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/siep̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	xie
Expected Cantonese Reflex	sip3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*s.qʰˤ(r)ip/

  (Zhengzhang): /*seːb/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	燮
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	xiè
Middle Chinese	‹ sep ›
Old Chinese	/*s.qʰˁ(r)ip/
English	harmonious
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	燮
Reading #	1/1
No.	13797
Phonetic component	燮
Rime group	盍
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	燮
Old Chinese	/*seːb/

Definitions

燮

1. (literary) to harmonize; to mediate; to bring together
2. (literary) harmonious; amiable
3. a surname

Compounds

• 燮友
• 燮和
• 燮和之任
• 燮燮
• 燮理陰陽／燮理阴阳
• 燮調／燮调
• 疊燮／叠燮 (diéxiè)
• 貼燮／贴燮

 

References

• “燮”, 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–

Japanese

Kanji

燮

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. moderate
2. alleviate
3. boil over low heat

Readings

• Go-on: しょう (shō)^{←せふ (sefu, historical)}
• Kan-on: しょう (shō)^{←せふ (sefu, historical)}
• Kun: やわらげる (yawarageru, 燮らげる)

Korean

Hanja

燮 (eumhun 불꽃 섭 (bulkkot seop))

1. harmonize, blend
2. adjust