闇

See also: 暗, and 𬮴

闇 U+95C7, 闇 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-95C7 ← 闆 [U+95C6] CJK Unified Ideographs 闈 → [U+95C8]

Translingual

Han character

闇 (Kangxi radical 169, 門+9, 17 strokes, cangjie input 日弓卜廿日 (ANYTA), four-corner 7760₁, composition ⿵門音)

1. close, shut
2. dark, dismal

Derived characters

• 𭌩, 𤃷, 𧮍

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1338, character 22
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41421
• Dae Jaweon: page 1843, character 34
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4309, character 7
• Unihan data for U+95C7

Chinese

trad.		闇
simp.		𬮴

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 闇
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
諳	*qɯːm
腤	*qɯːm
嬜	*qɯːm, *qʰaːm, *qʰrɯm
喑	*qɯːm, *qrɯm, *qrɯms
揞	*qɯːmʔ, *qrɯːms
隌	*qɯːmʔ, *qrɯm
罯	*qɯːmʔ, *qɯːb
暗	*qɯːms
闇	*qɯːms
黯	*qrɯːm, *qrɯːmʔ
歆	*qʰrɯm
愔	*qɯm
韾	*qɯm
音	*qrɯm
瘖	*qrɯm
窨	*qrɯms
湆	*kʰrɯb

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *qɯːms) : semantic 門 + phonetic 音 (OC *qrɯm).

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): àn (an⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄢˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): am³ / am²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: àn
    • Zhuyin: ㄢˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: àn
    • Wade–Giles: an⁴
    • Yale: àn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ann
    • Palladius: ань (anʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀän⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: am³ / am²
    • Yale: am / ám
    • Cantonese Pinyin: am³ / am²
    • Guangdong Romanization: em³ / em²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐm³³/, /ɐm³⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

---

• Middle Chinese: 'omH

Rime
Character	闇
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)
Final (韻)	覃 (159)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	烏紺切
Baxter	'omH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔʌmH/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔəmH/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔɒmH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔəmH/
Li Rong	/ʔᴀmH/
Wang Li	/ɒmH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ʔămH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	àn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	am3

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*qɯːms/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	闇
Reading #	1/1
No.	15214
Phonetic component	音
Rime group	侵
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	暗
Old Chinese	/*qɯːms/

Definitions

闇

1. to close the door
2. night; dusk; eclipse
3. Alternative form of 暗 (àn, “dark; secret; ignorant”)

Compounds

• 嚚闇／嚚暗
• 庸闇／庸暗
• 悠闇／悠暗
• 洄闇／洄暗
• 闇亂／暗乱
• 闇劣／暗劣
• 闇弱／暗弱 (ànruò)
• 闇淺／暗浅
• 闇然／暗然
• 闇莫／暗莫
• 闇誦／暗诵
• 闇跳／暗跳
• 黮闇／黮暗

 

Pronunciation 2

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ān (an¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): am¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: ān
    • Zhuyin: ㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: an
    • Wade–Giles: an¹
    • Yale: ān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: an
    • Palladius: ань (anʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀän⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: am¹
    • Yale: ām
    • Cantonese Pinyin: am¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: em¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐm⁵⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

Definitions

闇

1. room for mourning the death of a ruler
2. Alternative form of 諳／谙 (ān, “to fully understand”)

Compounds

• 諒闇／谅暗

 

Pronunciation 3

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yǎn (yan³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄢˇ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǎn
    • Wade–Giles: yen³
    • Yale: yǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yean
    • Palladius: янь (janʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn²¹⁴/

Definitions

闇

1. Alternative form of 奄 (“suddenly”)

References

• “闇”, 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

Shinjitai	闇
Kyūjitai	闇󠄂 闇+󠄂? (Hanyo-Denshi) (Moji_Joho)
The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment. See here for details.

Kanji

闇

(Jōyō kanji)

1. dark, darkness

Readings

• Go-on: おん (on)^{←おん (on, historical)←おむ (omu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: あん (an)^{←あん (an, historical)←あむ (amu, ancient)}
• Kun: やみ (yami, 闇, Jōyō)、くらい (kurai, 闇い)

Compounds

Compounds

• 闇夜(あんや) (an'ya): a dark night, a night with no moon; a dark and depressing outlook
• 闇(やみ)夜(よ) (yamiyo): a dark night, a night with no moon

Usage notes

Added to the jōyō kanji list on 30 November 2010; previously classified as jinmeiyō kanji.

See also

• 暗 (Tōyō character written in place of this character)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
闇
やみ Grade: S
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. Ultimate roots uncertain. May be cognate with 病む (yamu, “to be ill”), 止む (yamu, “to stop, to quit”), 黄泉 (yomi, “land of the dead”).

Reconstructed as deriving ultimately from Proto-Japonic *yamui.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) やみ [yàmíꜜ] (Odaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [ja̠mʲi]

Noun

闇(やみ) • (yami) 

1. the dark, darkness

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
闇
あん Grade: S
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 闇 (MC 'omH, “dark”).

Alternative forms

• 暗

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) あん [áꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ã̠ɴ]

Noun

闇(あん) • (an) 

1. darkness, the dark
2. a dark place
3. (Buddhism) darkness, as a metaphor for worldly desires

Korean

Hanja

闇 (eumhun 숨을 암 (sumeul am))

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Vietnamese

Han character

闇: Hán Nôm readings: ám

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