Zi:文

文 [wén] language, literature; 文化 wénhuà culture; (radical 67, 文部) [mín] 忞

►¹wén 文 {D} b.f. ①writing; script ►wénzì 文字 ②language ►yǔwén 语文 ③literary/artistic/cultural pursuits ►¹wényì 文艺 ④literary language ►wényán 文言 ⑤formal ritual ►xūwén 虚文 ⑥certain natural phenomena ►tiānwén 天文 ⑦civil; civilian ►wénguān 文官 ⑧cultured; cultural; literary ►¹wénhuà 文化 ⑨gentle; refined ►wényǎ 文雅 ◆s.v. literary, bookish (of language) ◆n. ①〈environment:〉 lg. inscription ②Surname ◆m. 〈environment:〉 trad. (for copper coins) ◆v. ①cover up; conceal ②〈environment:〉 trad. tattoo
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文 originally depicted a person with some kind of design, possibly a tattoo, on the upper body (Karlgren(1940), Lindqvist, 李乐毅, and 王宏源 all support the tattoo theory). 花纹 huāwén means ‘decorative pattern’, or ‘tattoo’; 文身 wénshēn is a literary word for ‘tattoo’.
    文 wén formerly meant ‘lines’, ‘veins’, ‘wood-grain’. That meaning is now written 纹(紋) wén, which is 文 plus 纟(糸 sī) ‘silk’. The extended meanings: ‘ornaments, designs, written characters, writing, literature, language, culture, civilization, civil (as contrasted with military), gentle, etc.’ illustrate the traditional high respect for literacy in China.
    文 is the 67th of the 214 radicals.
    The rare old reading “mín” appears in 《汉语大词典》: 文 here is a writing of 忞 (as in “文莫” ‘黾勉,努力’).
►references: Guǎngyùn:109.30; Wieger:61f; Henshall:68; Karlgren:AD1315,GS475,GSR475a; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:3.2169.1; Lindqvist:309,351; Mathews:7129; Kāngxī Zìdiǎn:477.01; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:010.0.04; Wáng(1993):179; EDOC:1
►components: 亠乂
 ►Cantonese: mahn\
►stroke 文 (... strokes)
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Unicode: U+6587
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