夢

Note that in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the character is written with 卝 on top instead of 艹, as found in the Kangxi dictionary. Traditionally, the character is listed under the radical 夕 (sunset). However, in simplified Chinese and Japanese dictionaries, the character may be listed under the radical 艹 (grass) as the 卝 (crown/hairstyle) component has been simplified to 艹.

夢 (Kangxi radical 36, 夕+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 廿田中弓 (TWLN), four-corner 4420₇, composition ⿳𦭝冖夕(GJKV) or ⿱⿳卝罒冖夕(HT))

• 儚, 𭋥, 㙹, 懜, 𭲿, 𬁜, 𣟃, 𤘂, 䑅, 𥌋, 䙦, 𬠳, 𰵉, 𧲍, 𨮒, 𠓔, 𩟞, 𬵳
• 𬩝, 𬰖, 鄸, 𤔻, 𡗐, 𦫰, 𧲎, 𨞯, 顭, 𩴲, 𪇓, 𦿏, 𥶃, 𩆠, 㝱, 𤻟, 𮄥

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 247, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5801
• Dae Jaweon: page 492, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 864, character 19
• Unihan data for U+5922
• Unihan data for U+2F85E

Historical forms of the character 夢
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	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

In the Oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形) or ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) – a person (人) lying on a bed (爿), sometimes with restless hands (compare the oracle-bone character for 丮) and sometimes with the eye (目) emphasized.

In the Bronze inscriptions, the eye (目) has eyebrows above it (compare 眉), and the person's body is attached underneath, now written as two dots on either side. The bed is no longer present, and instead 夕 (“moon; night”) has been added.

In the modern form 夢, the eyebrows are written 卝, the eyes are written 罒, and the person's body has become 冖, while 夕 remains on the bottom.

According to Shuowen, it is a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *mɯŋ, *mɯŋs) : phonetic 瞢 (OC *mɯːŋ, *mɯŋ, *mɯŋs) + semantic 夕.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(s/r)-ma(ŋ/k) (“dream”); compare Tibetan རྨང་ལམ (rmang lam, “dream”), Chepang माङः (“dream”), Proto-Lolo-Burmese *s-makᴴ ~ *s-maŋ¹ (“dream”), Mizo mang (“dream”), Japhug tɯ-jmŋo (“dream”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Zhang, Jacques and Lai, 2019).

夢

1. dream (Classifier: 場／场 m c mn; 個／个 m c mn)

   美夢／美梦  ―  měimèng  ―  good dream

   夢魘／梦魇  ―  mèngyǎn  ―  nightmare

   做夢／做梦  ―  zuòmèng  ―  to dream

   發夢／发梦 [Cantonese]  ―  faat³ mung⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  to dream

   我尋晚發咗個夢，係關於你嘅。喺夢裡面我見到你同我一齊健身。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我寻晚发咗个梦，系关于你嘅。喺梦里面我见到你同我一齐健身。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ cam⁴ maan⁵ faat³ zo² go³ mung⁶, hai⁶ gwaan¹ jyu¹ nei⁵ ge³. hai² mung⁶ leoi⁵ min⁶ ngo⁵ gin³ dou^3-2 nei⁵ tung⁴ ngo⁵ jat¹ cai⁴ gin⁶ san¹. [Jyutping]

   This morning I had a dream about you. In the dream, I saw you working out with me.

   • 其民不食不衣而多眠，五旬一覺，以夢中所為者實，覺之所見者妄。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     其民不食不衣而多眠，五旬一觉，以梦中所为者实，觉之所见者妄。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Liezi, 1^st – 5^th century CE

     Qí mín bù shí bù yì ér duōmián, wǔ xún yī jué, yǐ mèng zhōng suǒwéi zhě shí, jué zhī suǒjiàn zhě wàng. [Pinyin]

     Its people do not eat or wear clothing, sleep a lot, and awaken every fifty days. They think what they do in dreams are real, and what they see while awake illusory.

2. to dream; to have dreams

   • 晝則呻呼而即事，夜則昏憊而熟寐。精神荒散，昔昔夢為國君。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     昼则呻呼而即事，夜则昏惫而熟寐。精神荒散，昔昔梦为国君。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Liezi, 1^st – 5^th century CE

     Zhòu zé shēnhū ér jíshì, yè zé hūnbèi ér shúmèi. Jīngshén huāngsǎn, xīxī mèng wéi guójūn. [Pinyin]

     By day he moans and pants at his labour, and by night, exhausted, he descends into fast slumber. As his mind drifts away, each night he dreams of becoming a monarch.

   • 夢什麼　我夢著一隻豬　啊夢豬講十二 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
     梦什么　我梦着一只猪　啊梦猪讲十二 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

     From: 1987, 蔡秋鳳 (Kerris Tsai), 什麼樂

     bāng siáⁿ-mih, góa bāng-tio̍h chi̍t chiah ti, ah bāng ti kóng cha̍p-lī [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     What did you dream of? I dreamt of a pig, dreamt that a pig said twelve

3. (figurative) dream; aspiration; ambition; goal

   我有一個夢。／我有一个梦。  ―  Wǒ yǒu yīge mèng.  ―  I have a dream.

4. a surname

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

夢

1. ^† muddled

   • 民今方殆，視天夢夢。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     民今方殆，视天梦梦。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Mín jīn fāng dài, shì tiān méngméng. [Pinyin]

     The people now amidst their perils,
     Look to Heaven, all dark.

• “夢”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: む (mu, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ぼう (bō)
• Kun: ゆめ (yume, 夢, Jōyō)^{←ゆめ (yume, 夢, historical)←いめ (ime, いめ, ancient)}; ゆめみる (yumemiru, 夢みる); くらい (kurai, 夢い)

⟨i me₂⟩ → */jiməɨ/ → /jɨme/ → /jume/

Shift from Old Japanese 夢 (ime₂), itself a compound of 寝 (i, “sleep, sleeping”, obsolete) +‎ 目 (me, “eye; sight, vision”).[1][2][3]

Appears in texts from the 900s.[1]

• (Tokyo) ゆめ​ [yùméꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[3][4]
• IPA^(key): [jɯ̟ᵝme̞]

夢(ゆめ) • (yume) 

1. a dream
   • 1989 November 10 [1988 May 25], Fujiko F. Fujio, “夢カメラ [Dream Camera]”, in 征地球論 [A Debate over Conquering Earth] (藤子・Ｆ・不二雄 ＳＦ全短編; 3), 2nd edition, volume 3 (fiction), Tokyo: Chuokoronsha, →ISBN, 第二章, page 275:

     これはなんです！

     Kore wa nan desu!

     What is this!?

     こ　これは夢(ゆめ)カメラといって……

     Ko kore wa Yume Kamera to itte……

     Th– This was taken with the Dream Camera…

     なにをユメみたいなこといってるんですか

     Nani o yume mitai na koto itterun desu ka

     Are you saying this is just a dream!?

2. a vision (wish for the future)
3. leaving reality to the state of lusciousness (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
4. a fantasy (idea from one's imagination)
5. an illusion or delusion

   Synonym: 迷夢 (meimu)

6. something fragile (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

夢(ゆめ) • (Yume) 

1. a female given name

From Middle Chinese 夢 (MC mjuwngH).

夢(む) • (mu) 

1. dream
2. illusion
3. vision
4. fantasy

• 正(せい)夢(む) (seimu)
• 白(はく)昼(ちゅう)夢(む) (hakuchūmu)
• 霊(れい)夢(む) (reimu)