馘

馘 U+9998, 馘 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9998 ← 馗 [U+9997] CJK Unified Ideographs 香 → [U+9999]

Translingual

Han character

馘 (Kangxi radical 185, 首+8, 17 strokes, cangjie input 廿山戈口一 (TUIRM), four-corner 8365₀, composition ⿰首或)

1. cut off left ear
2. tally dead enemy

Derived characters

• 𢹖, 𩉕

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1428, character 13
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 44507
• Dae Jaweon: page 1954, character 17
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4501, character 21
• Unihan data for U+9998

Chinese

simp. and trad.		馘
alternative forms		聝 𢦞

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
幗	*kʷɯːɡs, *kʷrɯːɡ
慖	*kʷɯːɡs, *kʷrɯːɡ
簂	*kʷɯːɡs
蔮	*kʷɯːɡs
國	*kʷɯːɡ
或	*ɡʷɯːɡ
惑	*ɡʷɯːɡ
蜮	*ɡʷɯːɡ, *ɢʷrɯɡ
閾	*qʰʷrɯɡ
緎	*qʰʷrɯɡ, *ɡʷrɯɡ
淢	*qʰʷrɯɡ, *ɡʷrɯɡ
域	*ɢʷrɯɡ
罭	*ɢʷrɯɡ
棫	*ɡʷrɯɡ
琙	*ɡʷrɯɡ
魊	*ɡʷrɯɡ
馘	*kʷrɯːɡ
聝	*kʷrɯːɡ
膕	*kʷrɯːɡ
摑	*kʷrɯːɡ
漍	*kʷrɯːɡ
嘓	*kʷrɯːɡ
蟈	*kʷrɯːɡ
掝	*qʰʷrɯːɡ
彧	*qʷrɯɡ
稶	*qʷɯɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʷrɯːɡ) : semantic 首 (“head”) + phonetic 或 (OC *ɡʷɯːɡ). This character largely displaced 聝 (OC *kʷrɯːɡ) in the received corpus of ancient classics. See also 𢦞.

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): guó (guo²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄨㄛˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gwik¹ / gwok³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: guó
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄨㄛˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: guó
    • Wade–Giles: kuo²
    • Yale: gwó
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: gwo
    • Palladius: го (go)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ku̯ɔ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gwik¹ / gwok³
    • Yale: gwīk / gwok
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gwik⁷ / gwok⁸
    • Guangdong Romanization: guig¹ / guog³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʷɪk̚⁵/, /kʷɔːk̚³/

---

• Middle Chinese: kweak

Rime
Character	馘
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	麥 (120)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	古獲切
Baxter	kweak
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kˠwɛk̚/
Pan Wuyun	/kʷᵚæk̚/
Shao Rongfen	/kuɐk̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kwəɨjk̚/
Li Rong	/kuɛk̚/
Wang Li	/kwæk̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kwæk̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	guo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gwak1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*C.qʷˤ<r>ək/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʷrɯːɡ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	馘
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	guó
Middle Chinese	‹ kwɛk ›
Old Chinese	/*C.qʷˁ<r>ək/
English	severed left ears
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	馘
Reading #	1/1
No.	5562
Phonetic component	或
Rime group	職
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	蟈
Old Chinese	/*kʷrɯːɡ/

Definitions

馘

1. (historical) severed left ear of a slain enemy (as trophy and tally for military merit)

   • 矯矯虎臣，在泮獻馘。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     矫矫虎臣，在泮献馘。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Jiǎojiǎo hǔchén, zài Pàn xiàn guó. [Pinyin]

     His martial-looking, tiger leaders,
     Will here (at the Pan Gong) present the left ears [of their foes].

2. (historical) to cut off the left ear of an enemy
3. (by extension) killed enemy; dead enemy

Compounds

• 俘馘
• 搴旗斬馘／搴旗斩馘
• 斬馘／斩馘
• 獻馘／献馘

 

Pronunciation 2

The pronunciation was uncertain due to the sparsity of attestation, namely one sentence in the Zhuangzi, which might have been affected by textual error. The following was based on those of 𤷇, whose reading in the 切韻 system would have been homophonic to that of 洫 (MC xwik) > Mandarin 洫 (xù).

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): xù (xu⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄒㄩˋ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: xù
    • Zhuyin: ㄒㄩˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: syù
    • Wade–Giles: hsü⁴
    • Yale: syù
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shiuh
    • Palladius: сюй (sjuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕy⁵¹/

Note: Uncertain.

Definitions

馘

1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
   1. cheek; face

      • 夫處窮閭阨巷，困窘織屨，槁項黃馘者，商之所短也；一悟萬乘之主，而從車百乘者，商之所長也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
        夫处穷闾阨巷，困窘织屦，槁项黄馘者，商之所短也；一悟万乘之主，而从车百乘者，商之所长也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

        From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

        Fú chù qiónglǘ èxiàng, kùnjiǒng zhī jù, gǎoxiànghuángxù zhě, Shāng zhī suǒduǎn yě; yī wù wànchéng zhī zhǔ, ér cóngchē bǎichéng zhě, Shāng zhī suǒcháng yě. [Pinyin]

        Living in a narrow lane of a poor mean hamlet, weaving sandals amid distress of poverty, with a weazen neck and yellow face - that is what I [Cao Shang] should find it difficult to do. But as soon as I come to an understanding with the Lord of a myriad carriages, to find myself with a retinue of a hundred carriages - that is wherein I excel.

   2. Alternative form of 𤷇 (xù, “headache; aching head”)

Compounds

• 槁項黃馘／槁项黄馘
• 黃馘／黄馘

 

References

• “馘”, 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

馘

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. To cut off (the left) ear as proof of defeating an enemy.
2. To cut off the head.
3. To Fire.

Readings

• Go-on: かく (kaku)^{←くわく (kwaku, historical)}
• Kan-on: きゃく (kyaku)^{←きやく (kyaku, historical)←くゐやく (kwiyaku, ancient)}
• Kun: みみきる (mimikiru, 馘る)、くびきる (kubikiru, 馘る)

Compounds

• 馘(くび)になる (kubi ni naru)

Korean

Hanja

馘 (eum 괵 (goek))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.