巫

巫 U+5DEB, 巫
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5DEB
← 巪
[U+5DEA] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 巬 →
[U+5DEC]

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
Shang Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Chu Slip and silk script Qin slip script Ancient script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (巫) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
巫 *ma
誣 *ma
莁 *ma
鵐 *ma

Etymology

“shaman; witch”
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.
“Malay”
Clipping of of 巫來由／巫来由, a transcription of Malay Melayu.

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. (chiefly Malaysia, Singapore) Malay; Melayu; relating to ethnic Malays
  4. A surname​.

Compounds

  • 大巫嫗／大巫妪
  • 女巫 (nǚwū)
  • 小巫見大巫／小巫见大巫
  • 巫人 (wūrén)
  • 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”)
  • 巫族
  • 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)
  • 巫裔
  • 巫覡／巫觋
  • 巫語／巫语 (wūyǔ)
  • 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. A shaman.
  2. Something related 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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