坎坷

Chinese

pit; threshold
simp. and trad.
(坎坷)
alternative forms
 
坎軻坎轲
埳坷
埳軻埳轲
轗軻𫐘轲
堿坷
㙳坷
輡軻𰺐轲
坎碣 (-khia̍t/khiat) Min Nan
嵁硈 (-khia̍t/khiat) Min Nan

Etymology

Coined by Han dynasty's scholar Yang Xiong in his 《河東賦》 "Hedong Rhapsody", included in Book of Han:

南巢坎坷夷平 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
𰛦南巢坎坷夷平 [Literary Chinese, simp.]
From: The Book of Han, circa 1st century CE
Huì Náncháo zhī kǎnkě xī, yì Bīn Qí zhī yípíng. [Pinyin]
Filthy are Nanchao's roughs; lively are Bin's and Qi's flats.

Pronunciation


Note: khám-khia̍t/kham-khia̍t/khám-khiat - 坎碣 is used in the Mainland.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/2 2/2
Initial () (29) (29) (29)
Final () (159) (94) (94)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Rising (X) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open Open Open
Division () I I I
Fanqie
Baxter khomX khaX khaH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/kʰʌmX/ /kʰɑX/ /kʰɑH/
Pan
Wuyun
/kʰəmX/ /kʰɑX/ /kʰɑH/
Shao
Rongfen
/kʰɒmX/ /kʰɑX/ /kʰɑH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/kʰəmX/ /kʰaX/ /kʰaH/
Li
Rong
/kʰᴀmX/ /kʰɑX/ /kʰɑH/
Wang
Li
/kʰɒmX/ /kʰɑX/ /kʰɑH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/kʰămX/ /kʰɑX/ /kʰɑH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
kǎn
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
ham2 ho2 ho3
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
kǎn
Middle
Chinese
‹ khomX ›
Old
Chinese
/*[k]ʰˁomʔ/
English pit (n.)

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
Reading # 1/2 1/2 2/2
No. 10269 7449 7450
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
3 1 1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*kʰoːmʔ/ /*kʰaːlʔ/ /*kʰaːls/

Adjective

坎坷

  1. (of a road) bumpy
  2. (figurative, of life) hard; rough; ill-fated; unfortunate; unfavoured

Synonyms

  • (bumpy): 不平 (bùpíng)
  • (hard): (literary) 乖舛 (guāichuǎn)

Derived terms

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