龜

龜 (Kangxi radical 213, 龜+0, 18 strokes in traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean, 16 strokes in mainland China, cangjie input 竹月尸尸 (HBSS) or 弓難山 (NXU), four-corner 2711₇, composition ⿱⺈⿹⿷⿻冂⿰一⿺乚⺊⿼コ㐅𢑑(H) or ⿱⺈⿻⿻冂⿰一⿺乚⺊⿻コ⿴⿹𠃌⺕㐅(G) or ⿱丿⿻⿻冂⿰一⿺乚⺊⿻コ⿴⿹𠃌⺕㐅)

1. Kangxi radical #213, ⿔.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/龜
• 𡤞, 𪷾, 𤒅, 櫷, 𦫉, 𪛕, 𨷺, 鬮

• 亀 龟

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1537, character 23
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 48847
• Dae Jaweon: page 2078, character 18
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4809, character 4
• Unihan data for U+9F9C
• Unihan data for U+F907
• Unihan data for U+F908
• Unihan data for U+FACE

Historical forms of the character 龜
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) : A drawing of a turtle seen from the side and from above (Bronze inscriptions).

Austroasiatic. Compare Mon ဂွိ (gwi, “soft-shell turtle”), Nyah Kur ทะวี่ʔ (tha wìiʼ, “soft-shell turtle”) (Schuessler, 2007).

龜

1. turtle; tortoise (Classifier: 隻／只 c)

   • 何謂四靈？麟鳳龜龍，謂之四靈。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     何谓四灵？麟凤龟龙，谓之四灵。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE

     Héwèi sìlíng? Lín fèng guī lóng, wèi zhī sìlíng. [Pinyin]

     What are the four numinous animals? The lin, the feng, the tortoise, and the dragon; those are called the four numinous animals.

2. (figurative) cuckold
3. (Cantonese, humorous) signature (Classifier: 隻／只 c)

   畫隻龜／画只龟 [Cantonese]  ―  waak⁶ zek³ gwai¹ [Jyutping]  ―  (humorous) to sign (literally, “to draw a turtle”)

4. (Hong Kong Cantonese, slang) police

• (tortoise):

• → Zhuang: gvi

龜

1. Only used in 龜茲／龟兹 (Qiūcí).

龜

1. (of skin) to crack; to become chapped

   • 宋人有善為不龜手之藥者，世世以洴澼絖為事。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宋人有善为不龟手之药者，世世以洴澼𬘢为事。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Sòng rén yǒu shàn wéi bù jūnshǒu zhī yào zhě, shìshì yǐ píngpìkuàng wéi shì. [Pinyin]

     There was a man of Song who was skilful at making a salve for chapped hands; and (his family) for generations had made the bleaching of cocoon-silk their business.

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 亀)

1. Kyūjitai form of 亀

• Go-on: き (ki)^{←き (ki, historical)}
• Kan-on: き (ki)^{←き (ki, historical)}
• Kun: かめ (kame, 龜)

From Middle Chinese 龜 (MC kjuw), as in 龜茲 (Kyūji)

• Go-on: く (ku)
• Kan-on: きゅう (kyū)^{←きう (kiu, historical)}

From Middle Chinese 龜 (MC kwij).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kɥi] ~ [ky]
• Phonetic hangul: [귀]

Wikisource 龜 (eumhun 거북 귀 (geobuk gwi))

1. Hanja form^? of 귀 (“tortoise; turtle”).

From Middle Chinese 龜 (MC kjuw).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ku]
• Phonetic hangul: [구]

龜 (eumhun 땅 이름 구 (ttang ireum gu))

1. Hanja form^? of 구 (“used in placenames”).

From Middle Chinese 龜.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kjun]
• Phonetic hangul: [균]

龜 (eumhun 터질 균 (teojil gyun))

1. Hanja form^? of 균 (“crack”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

From Proto-Japonic *kamaCi.[1]

龜 (kame₂) (kana かめ)

1. a tortoise, turtle
   • 711–712, Kojiki, middle volume (Yamasachihiko and Umisachihiko):

     ...乘_二龜甲_一爲_レ釣乍打羽擧來人遇_二于速吸門_一...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. a tortoise shell used in 亀卜 (kiboku, “tortoise-shell divination”)
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 16, poem 3811:

     ...千磐破神爾毛莫負卜部座龜毛莫燒曾戀之久爾...

     ...tipayaburu kami₂ ni mo na opose urape₂ mase kame₂ mo na yaki₁ so₂ ko₁pi₂siku ni...

     ...mighty gods that carry not the burden, do divination with the unburnt tortoise shell with longing...

• Japanese: 亀 (kame)

龜: Hán Nôm readings: qui, quân, quy

1. chữ Hán form of quy (“turtle”).