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Definition 2025

龍

龍

龍 U+9F8D, 龍
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9F8D
← 龌
[U+9F8C] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 龎 →
[U+9F8E]
See also: 龙

Translingual

Stroke order
Traditional 龍
Shinjitai 竜
Simplified 龙

Han character

龍 (radical 212 龍+0, 16 strokes, cangjie input 卜月卜尸心 (YBYSP), four-corner 01211)

  1. Kangxi radical #212, ⿓ ‎(“dragon”).

Derived characters

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: page 1536, character 33
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 48818
  • Dae Jaweon: page 2076, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4803, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+9F8D

Chinese

trad. 龍
simp. 龙
alt. forms
 
㡣
䮾
䰱
竜
龒
𠉒
𠊋
𢀀
𢄫
𢅛
𥪐
𥪑
𥪖
𥪢
𥫆
𥫈
𦱉
𦱸

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 龍
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (龍) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
驡 *ʔslaːŋʔ, *roŋ
龐 *broːŋ
瀧 *rroːŋ, *sroːŋ, *roːŋ
籠 *roːŋ, *roːŋʔ, *roŋ
豅 *roːŋ
朧 *roːŋ, *roŋs
龓 *roːŋ, *roːŋʔ
聾 *roːŋ
礱 *roːŋ, *roːŋs
嚨 *roːŋ
蘢 *roːŋ, *roŋ
櫳 *roːŋ
襱 *roːŋ, *roːŋʔ, *r'oŋʔ
瓏 *roːŋ
曨 *roːŋ, *roːŋʔ
鸗 *roːŋ, *roŋ
蠪 *roːŋ
巃 *roːŋʔ
竉 *roːŋʔ
攏 *roːŋʔ
儱 *roːŋʔ, *roŋs
龍 *b·roŋ, *mroːŋ
躘 *roŋ, *roŋs
隴 *roŋʔ
壠 *roŋʔ
壟 *roŋʔ
寵 *r̥ʰoŋʔ
龏 *kloŋ, *kloŋs, *qroːɡ

Pictogram (象形) – originally a serpent with prominent whiskered mouth and eyes.

Current form developed in large seal script, with serpent’s body on right (tail at upper right, legs on right), whiskered/fanged mouth at lower left, and eyes/crown at upper left. Left side was subsequently simplified and abstracted, with some influence of 立 and ⺼/月. Note that 竜 existed as a traditional variant dating back to large seal script, and figures a dragon seen face-on, rather than curled around.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-bru(ŋ/k) ‎(“dragon; thunder”). Cognate with Tibetan འབྲུག ‎('brug, “dragon; thunder”). The STEDT database also lists 隆 (OC *ɡ·ruːŋ, “thunder; sound of thunder”) and 雹 (OC *bruːɡ, “hail”) as cognates. Also compare 靐 (OC *brɯŋs, “sound of thunder”) and 霹靂 (“thunder”).

This word is found in many languages of the region. Compare Proto-Hmong-Mien *-roŋ ‎(“dragon”) (White Hmong zaj), Proto-Vietic *-roːŋ ‎(“dragon”) (Vietnamese rồng), Vietnamese thuồng luồng ‎(“serpent-like monster”), Khmer រោង ‎(roŭng, “year of the dragon”), Thai มะโรง ‎(má-roong, “dragon; year of the dragon”), Lao ມະໂລງ ‎(ma lōng, “year of the dragon”).

Pronunciation

  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 龍
Mandarin Beijing /luŋ³⁵/
Harbin /luŋ²⁴/
Tianjin /luŋ⁴⁵/
Jinan /luŋ⁴²/
Qingdao /ləŋ⁴²/
Zhengzhou /luŋ⁴²/
/lyuŋ⁴²/
Xi'an /luŋ²⁴/
Xining /luə̃²⁴/
Yinchuan /luŋ⁵³/
Lanzhou /lũn⁵³/
Ürümqi /luŋ⁵¹/
Wuhan /noŋ²¹³/
Chengdu /noŋ³¹/
Guiyang /noŋ²¹/
Kunming /loŋ³¹/
Nanjing /loŋ²⁴/
Hefei /ləŋ⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /luəŋ¹¹/
Pingyao /luŋ¹³/
Hohhot /lũŋ³¹/
Wu Shanghai /loŋ²³/
Suzhou /loŋ¹³/
Hangzhou /loŋ²¹³/
Wenzhou /liɛ³¹/
Hui Shexian /lʌ̃⁴⁴/
Tunxi /lin⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /loŋ¹³/
Xiangtan /nən¹²/
Gan Nanchang /luŋ⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /liuŋ¹¹/
Taoyuan /lioŋ¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /loŋ²¹/
Nanning /luŋ²¹/
Hong Kong /luŋ²¹/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /liɔŋ³⁵/
/liŋ³⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /lyŋ⁵³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /lœyŋ³³/
Shantou (Min Nan) /loŋ⁵⁵/
/leŋ⁵⁵/
Haikou (Min Nan) /loŋ³¹/
/liaŋ³¹/
Rime
Character 龍
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 來 (37)
Final (韻) 鍾 (7)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 力鍾切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /lɨoŋ/
Pan
Wuyun		 /lioŋ/
Shao
Rongfen		 /lioŋ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /luawŋ/
Li
Rong		 /lioŋ/
Wang
Li		 /lĭwoŋ/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /li̯woŋ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 lóng
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 龍 龍
Reading # 1/2 2/2
No. 8436 8763
Phonetic
component		 龍 尨
Rime
group		 東 東
Rime
subdivision		 0 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 龍 厖
Old
Chinese		 /*b·roŋ/ /*mroːŋ/
Notes 同狵

Definitions

龍

  1. (mythology) Chinese dragon
  2. (mythology) Western dragon
  3. (figuratively) emperor; sovereign; king; of the emperor
  4. (figuratively) chief; hero; towering figure
  5. (by extension) dragon-shaped object; long object
  6. (by extension) dragon-adorned object
  7. (zoology) Short for 恐龍／恐龙 (kǒnglóng, “dinosaur”).
  8. (Min Dong) to become clear-minded; to be revitalised
  9. A surname​.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

龍

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 竜)

  1. dragon

Readings

Usage notes

Kyūjitai; simplified into 竜 as isolated shinjitai kanji, but used in Jōyō characters 襲 and 籠 (latter Jōyō as of 2010).

Noun

龍 ‎(kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai kanji 竜, hiragana たつ, romaji tatsu)

  1. dragon
    • 931–938, Wamyō Ruijushō, book 8, page 1:
      龍 文字集畧云、龍、力鍾反、太都、○下總本有和名二字、神代紀齋明紀同訓、按太都 [...]

龍 ‎(kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai kanji 竜, hiragana りゅう, romaji ryū)

  1. dragon

Proper noun

龍 ‎(kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai kanji 竜, hiragana りゅう, romaji Ryū)

  1. A male given name
  2. A surname​.

References

Korean

Hanja

龍 • ‎(ryong>yong, rong>nong, mang, chong)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 룡>용, 롱>농, 망, 총 (McCune-Reischauer: ryong>yong, rong>nong, mang, ch'ong, Yale: lyong>yong, long>nong, mang, chong)
  • Name (hangeul): 용()
  1. dragon
  2. king

compounds

  • 청룡 ‎(cheongnyong)(靑龍) Green dragon
  • 용문 ‎(yongmun)(龍門) dragon gate (folk tale : If snake passes this gate, it becames a dragon)
  • 용왕 ‎(yong-wang)(龍王) the Dragon King
  • 용산 ‎(yongsan)(龍山) Yongsan city
  • 용인 ‎(yong-in)(龍仁) Yongin city
  • 용수철 ‎(yongsucheol)(龍鬚鐵) spring
  • 등용문 ‎(deung-yongmun)(登龍門) gateway
  • 용두사미 ‎(yongdusami)(龍頭蛇尾) anticlimax, dragon head and snake tail
  • 공룡 ‎(gongnyong)(恐龍) dinosaur

Vietnamese

Han character

龍 (long, lỏng, lung, lúng, luồng)

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

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