江

Stroke order

江 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 水一 (EM), four-corner 3111₀, composition ⿰氵工)

• 𰂂, 𭇮, 𡷍, 𢏠, 𢬥, 𭥺, 𣑴, 𥆀, 𭁑, 䑭, 𨀹, 𪀤
• 𬇧, 㳩, 㴂, 𣽝, 鴻(鸿), 𭳼, 𬻶, 𤭊, 茳, 𥬮, 𮤏, 𭍟, 𮤏(𮤳)

• エ (Japanese katakana)
• 𛀁 (Japanese hentaigana)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 606, character 4
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17140
• Dae Jaweon: page 999, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1551, character 3
• Unihan data for U+6C5F

Historical forms of the character 江
Warring States
Bronze inscriptions

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kroːŋ) : semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 工 (OC *koːŋ).

"Yangtze River"

Borrowed from a substrate Austroasiatic language as Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kl(j)u(ŋ/k) (“river, valley”); compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *ruŋ ~ ruuŋ ~ ruəŋ (“river”) > Proto-Vietic *k-roːŋ (“river”) (Vietnamese sông), Mon ကြုၚ် (krɜŋ, “small river, creek”).

Derivative: 港 (OC *kroːŋʔ, *ɡloːŋs, “harbour”).

江

1. Yangtze River
   • c. 4th century BCE, 孟子 [Mencius], 孟子 [Mencius]:

     決汝漢，排淮泗，而注之江。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     决汝汉，排淮泗，而注之江。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     Jué Rǔ Hàn, pái Huái Sì, ér zhù zhī Jiāng. [Pinyin]

     He opened a vent also for the Ru and Han, and regulated the course of the Huai and Si, so that they all flowed into the Jiang.

2. (by extension) river (Classifier: 條／条)
3. (～日) (telegraphy) the third day of a month
4. a surname: Jiang (mainland China), Chiang (Taiwan), Kong (Hong Kong), Kiang (Old fashion)

   江澤民／江泽民  ―  Jiāng Zémín  ―  Jiang Zemin

The word that referred to a body of flowing water such as stream, creek or river was represented in early Chinese with 水 (shuǐ), a pictograph showing water flowing between two banks, similar to the form of the character 川 (chuān).

In early times, specialized characters were created to represent words that described particular bodies of water. These words often contain the water radical (氵), which was originally written in the same way that the original form of 水 was written.

In early texts, the term 河 (hé) usually referred directly to the 黃河／黄河 (Huáng Hé, “Yellow River”). Over time, 河 became used as a generalized term for rivers that were bigger than a stream. The term is sometimes associated with an 'older' body of flowing water that has a smaller volume. Similarly, 江 was originally the name of the Yangtze River which is a relatively larger body of flowing water. 江 became the standard bearer for a slightly differentiated category of river. It was then applied broadly as a generic term.

Among Chinese users, there are commonly held beliefs about the differences between these near synonyms that may not be reflected in an ordinary dictionary. 江 are often thought of as the larger rivers that are usually in southern China, while 河 are usually rivers with comparatively lesser volume or that are artificial and are usually found in northern China (and may be considered culturally 'older'). These two terms are often the subject of attempts at comparisons. Terms for smaller bodies of flowing water include: 川 (chuān) which are usually mid-sized or relatively small rivers, 溪 (xī) and 流 (liú) which are creeks, streams, brooks, and gullies, and 水 (shuǐ) which are streams (but can also be medium-sized tributary rivers like the Han River (漢水／汉水 (Hànshuǐ)). There are many exceptions to these patterns owing to inconsistent usage of the relevant terms in different forms of Chinese and English over time, and also due to cultural attitudes about proper usage of the terms.

• 河 (hé)
• 川 (chuān)

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. creek
2. inlet
3. bay

• Go-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←こう (kou, historical)}
• Kan-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←かう (kau, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: ごう (gō)^{←がう (gau, historical)}
• Kun: え (e, 江, Jōyō)^{←え (e, 江, historical)←𛀁 (ye, 江, ancient)}
• Nanori: ええ (ee); くん (kun); こ (ko); とうみ (tōmi); のぶ (nobu); み (mi); りえ (rie)

/je/ → /e/

From Old Japanese. The ye pronunciation merged with e in Early Middle Japanese. The merged sound was ye until the Edo period, which is found in Yedo, yen and Yebisu.

This term was so representative of the ye reading that it lent its shape to the hentaigana 𛀁 (ye).

• (Tokyo) え​ [éꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
• IPA^(key): [e̞]

江(え) • (e) 

1. inlet, bay
2. (archaic, possibly obsolete) (general term for a large body of water)
   1. sea
   2. large river
   3. lake

Although 江 (e) was sometimes used generically for a large body of water, it was most often used to indicate the portion of that body of water that extended inland.[2]

• (inlet): 入(いり)江(え), 入(い)り江(え) (irie)
• (bay): 湾(わん) (wan)

江(え) • (E) 

1. a surname

/kau/ → /kɔː/ → /koː/

From Middle Chinese 江 (MC kaewng).

The 漢音 (kan'on) reading, so likely a later borrowing.

• IPA^(key): [ko̞ː]

江(こう) • (kō) ^{←かう (kau)?}

1. (archaic) large river

江(こう) • (Kō) ^{←かう (kau)?}

1. short for 長江 (Chōkō): the Yangtze River
2. old name for 琵琶湖 (Biwa-ko): Lake Biwa
3. a surname
4. a unisex given name

• 江(こう)河(が) (Kōga): the Yangtze River and the Yellow River

Various nanori readings.

• (Tokyo) ご​ー [góꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ɡo̞ː]

江(ごう) • (Gō) 

1. a surname
2. a unisex given name

江(へ) • (e) 

1. (dated) Alternative spelling of へ (e, “to, towards”)
   • 1977, 週刊文春1977年1月13日号

     内(ない)藤(とう)国(くに)雄(お)より美(み)空(そら)ひばり賛(さん)江(へ)

     Naitō Kunio yori Misora Hibari san e

     From Kunio Naito to dear Ms. Hibari Misora

1. (obsolete) Identical in meaning to the particle へ, but used only after pronunciations of え, 𛀁, and ゑ. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

From Middle Chinese 江 (MC kaewng). Recorded as Middle Korean 가ᇰ (kang) (Yale: kang) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource 江 (eumhun 강 강 (gang gang))

1. Hanja form^? of 강 (“river”).

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

江: Hán Nôm readings: giang, giăng, nhăng, gianh

1. (only in compounds) river
2. chữ Hán form of Giang (“a surname from Chinese.”).