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Definition 2024

巫

巫

Translingual

Han character

巫 (radical 48 工+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 一人人 (MOO), four-corner 10108, composition ⿻工从)

References

  • KangXi: page 325, character 19
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8728
  • Dae Jaweon: page 629, character 7
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 412, character 8
  • Unihan data for U+5DEB

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 巫

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 巫
Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (巫) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
巫 *ma
誣 *ma
莁 *ma
鵐 *ma

Etymology

This word initially referred to spirit medium/shaman of either sex, but eventually female when contrasted with 覡 (OC *ɡeːɡ, “male shaman”). Various hypotheses exist regarding its etymology:

  1. Cognate with Tibetan འབའ་པོ ‎('ba' po, “magician, sorcerer”), འབའ་མོ ‎('ba' mo, “sorcereress”).
  2. Cognate with 誣 (OC *ma, “to deceive”).
  3. Cognate with 舞 (OC *maʔ, “to dance”).
  4. Cognate with 母 (OC *mɯʔ, “female”).
  5. Victor Mair proposes that this is a loanword from Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁 ‎(maguš), a word represented by the ☩ (cross potent) which is graphically similar to the Chinese bronze inscription form (Mair, 1990; Mair, 2012).

Thai หมอ ‎(mɔ̌ɔ, “doctor”) < Proto-Tai *ʰmo:ᴬ ‎(“shaman”) is generally assumed to be a Sino-Tibetan loan. More at Wu (shaman), Magi#In Chinese sources, magus.

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 巫
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 明 (4)
Final (韻) 虞 (24)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Closed
Division (等) III
Fanqie 武夫切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /mɨo/
Pan
Wuyun		 /mio/
Shao
Rongfen		 /mio/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /muə̆/
Li
Rong		 /mio/
Wang
Li		 /mĭu/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /mi̯u/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 wú
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 巫
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 wū
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ mju ›
Old
Chinese		 /*C.m(r)[o]/
English magician

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 巫
Reading # 1/1
No. 13062
Phonetic
component		 巫
Rime
group		 魚
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 無
Old
Chinese		 /*ma/

Definitions

巫

  1. shaman; witch; sorcerer; wizard
  2. witch doctor
  3. A surname​.

Compounds

  • 大巫嫗／大巫妪
  • 女巫 (nǚwū)
  • 小巫見大巫／小巫见大巫
  • 巫咸
  • 巫婆 (wūpó, “witch; sorceress”)
  • 巫山 (Wūshān, “Wushan”)
  • 巫山之夢／巫山之梦
  • 巫山之會／巫山之会
  • 巫山洛浦
  • 巫山雲雨／巫山云雨
  • 巫峰
  • 巫峽／巫峡
  • 巫師／巫师 (wūshī, “sorcerer”)
  • 巫毒教 (wūdújiào, “voodoo”)
  • 巫祝
  • 巫蠱／巫蛊
  • 巫蠱之獄／巫蛊之狱
  • 巫術／巫术 (wūshù, “shamanism; witchcraft; sorcery”)
  • 巫覡／巫觋
  • 巫醫／巫医 (wūyī, “witch doctor”)
  • 祝巫
  • 神巫 (shénwū)
  • 雲雨巫山／云雨巫山

Japanese

Kanji

巫

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

  1. shaman
  2. witch, sorcerer

Readings

Compounds

Usage notes

This is the only kanji added to the jinmeiyō kanji list on 7 January 2015 by the Japanese government; previously classified as hyōgaiji.

Korean

Hanja

巫 • ‎(mu) (hangeul 무, revised mu, McCune-Reischauer mu)

  1. Shaman, Relating to Shamanism

Vietnamese

Han character

巫 (vu)

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

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