文

文 (Kangxi radical 67, 文+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 卜大 (YK), four-corner 0040₀, composition ⿱亠乂)

1. Kangxi radical #67, ⽂.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/文
• 伩, 𪞙, 𭃉, 呅, 坟, 妏, 𪦹, 㞶, 𪫋, 忟, 抆, 汶, 𤝋, 𫔻, 这, 𢪖, 旼, 𣐀, 炆, 𭷏, 玟, 𫠇, 𪽌, 𪽼, 盿, 砇, 𮂹, 𥩛, 𭙁, 𥸹, 紋(纹), 蚊, 𫌴, 𡲈, 鈫, 馼(𫘜), 䰚, 魰, 𪊙, 𬍆, 鼤
• 刘, 𠠼, 対, 彣, 𫾨, 𬀫, 𦍢, 𦐑, 𮥷, 𮨂, 𩖣, 𩢌, 鳼(𪉃), 㓙, 㐎, 齐, 吝, 𡵡, 忞, 𪰎, 𦙟, 彥, 紊, 蚉, 𧴻, 產, 𩵳, 鴍(𬸀), 𪐰, 螡, 䘇
• 㞵, 芠, 旻, 𬐅, 𥄐, 𥫾, 𦐐, 𮍧, 𠳵, 𦍡, 𬜰, 雯, 𪪍, 𤵒, 虔, 𪊓, 閔(闵), 𪢨, 辬, 𣈝, 𨔉

• 𘱒 (Khitan Small Script)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 477, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13450
• Dae Jaweon: page 831, character 39
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2169, character 1
• Unihan data for U+6587

Historical forms of the character 文
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogram (指事) : a man with a painted or tattooed chest – original form of 紋. In current form, tattoo has vanished, so simply an outline of a man (head, outstretched arms, legs, chest). Compare 大, which has no chest.

Possibly a derivation, with -n nominal suffix, of 煤 (*mɯː) "soot (obs.), ink (obs.), coal" (Schuessler, 2007).

Semantic shift: "pattern, tattoo (made of soot)", "written glyph (made of ink)" > "literature" > "refined, cultured" (Schuessler, 2007).

文

1. ^† Original form of 紋／纹 (wén, “mark, pattern, design, tattoo, decoration”).

   文如貍／文如狸 [Classical Chinese]  ―  wén rú lí [Pinyin]  ―  having a pattern like that of a wild cat

2. Original form of 紋／纹 (wén rú lí, “to tattoo”).

   文身  ―  wénshēn  ―  to tattoo

   文面  ―  wénmiàn  ―  face tattoo

3. writing; literary composition; literature (Classifier: 篇 c)

   文章  ―  wénzhāng  ―  article, essay

   散文  ―  sǎnwén  ―  prose

   文不對題／文不对题  ―  wénbùduìtí  ―  (of writing or speech) to be beside the point; to be off-topic; to be irrelevant to the subject

   呢篇文寫得唔錯。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   呢篇文写得唔错。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ni¹ pin¹ man^4-2 se² dak¹ m⁴ co³. [Jyutping]

   This essay is written quite well.

4. official document
5. literary language; Literary Chinese

   半文半白  ―  bànwénbànbái  ―  half literary, half vernacular

6. Short for 文讀／文读 (wéndú, “literary reading”).
7. script; written form

   甲骨文  ―  jiǎgǔwén  ―  oracle bone script

   書同文，車同軌。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
   书同文，车同轨。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

   Shū tóng wén, chē tóng guǐ. [Pinyin]

   Same ruts for carriages, same script for writing. (i.e., universal standards)

   天城文  ―  tiānchéngwén  ―  Devanagari

8. (written) language

   Antonym: 語／语

   中文  ―  zhōngwén  ―  Chinese

   英文  ―  yīngwén  ―  English

9. culture

   文化  ―  wénhuà  ―  culture

   文明  ―  wénmíng  ―  civilization

10. liberal arts; humanities
11. natural or social phenomenon

    天文  ―  tiānwén  ―  astronomy

    人文  ―  rénwén  ―  humanities; letters

12. ritual; etiquette

    繁文縟節／繁文缛节  ―  fánwénrùjié  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

13. of a government position, non-military: civil, civilian

    文職／文职  ―  wénzhí  ―  civilian post

    文官  ―  wénguān  ―  civil official

    文武  ―  wénwǔ  ―  civilian and military

14. gentle; refined

    斯文  ―  sīwén  ―  refined, cultured

    文雅  ―  wényǎ  ―  elegant, refined

15. 47th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "pattern, repetition" (𝌴)
16. (archaic) Classifier for coins.
17. (numismatics) mill (a tenth of a cent)

    一文  ―  yī wén  ―  one mill

18. (～日) (telegraphy) the twelfth day of a month

    文夕大火  ―  Wénxī Dàhuǒ  ―  1938 Changsha fire

19. a surname

    文天祥  ―  Wén Tiānxiáng  ―  Wen Tianxiang (Chinese politician and poet in the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty)

文

1. to cover

   文過／文过  ―  wénguò, wènguò  ―  to cover one's fault