法

法 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 水土戈 (EGI), four-corner 3413₁, composition ⿰氵去)

• 𠵽, 𭡚, 𦝌, 琺, 鍅, 𪶏, 𭱇, 𬈅, 𧇦, 𭓼, 𦲾, 𪾁, 𪴹, 䦢, 𬰂, 𢌇, 𦝎, 𤀢, 𪫚, 𠎢

• 灋 (Variant traditional form of 法)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 616, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17290
• Dae Jaweon: page 1010, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1579, character 4
• Unihan data for U+6CD5

Historical forms of the character 法
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script

Simplified from earlier 灋, which was originally used to represent 廢 (OC *pads, “to cast aside; to abrogate”).

Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Tibetan བབས (babs, “shape, form, appearance”), དབྱིབས (dbyibs, “shape, form, figure”). Possibly cognate with 凡 (OC *bom, “all, general, every; pattern, general rule”); see there for more.

法

1. law; rule; regulation; statute

   法院  ―  fǎyuàn  ―  court of law

   立法  ―  lìfǎ  ―  to legislate

   犯法  ―  fànfǎ  ―  to break the law

   普通法  ―  pǔtōngfǎ  ―  common law

   著作權法／著作权法  ―  zhùzuòquánfǎ  ―  copyright law

2. norm; standard; model; example

   法書／法书  ―  fǎshū  ―  model calligraphy

   語法／语法  ―  yǔfǎ  ―  grammar

3. to imitate; to emulate

   效法  ―  xiàofǎ  ―  to imitate

   師法／师法  ―  shīfǎ  ―  to imitate

4. method; way; solution

   歸納法／归纳法  ―  guīnàfǎ  ―  inductive reasoning

   有法 [Hokkien]  ―  ū hoat [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to be able to; can; to have a way to do something

5. (Buddhism) dharma; principle of the universe; teachings of Buddha

   法輪／法轮  ―  fǎlún  ―  dharmachakra

   末法時期／末法时期  ―  mò fǎ shíqī  ―  Dharma-ending age

6. magic; magic arts; sorcery; witchcraft

   施法  ―  shīfǎ  ―  to cast a spell

7. 40th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "law" (𝌭)
8. (Cantonese) such a way

   而家噉搞法我都唔知點算好。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   而家噉搞法我都唔知点算好。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ji⁴ gaa¹ gam² gaau² faat³ ngo⁵ dou¹ m⁴ zi¹ dim² syun³ hou². [Jyutping]

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

9. a surname

• Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian (《现代汉语规范词典》) proscribes the use of the pronunciations fā and fá.

Others:

• → Proto-Tai
  • Lao: ແບບ (bǣp, “form; model, standard, example; method; style, manner; brand, type”)
  • Thai: แบบ (bɛ̀ɛp, “kind; design, pattern; style; type; model”)
  • → Khmer: បែប (baep, “kind, sort, model, type; style, form, shape; aspect; method, way, situation, condition”)
• → Vietnamese: phép (“rule, custom, usage, method; permission, authorisation; magical power”)
• → Manchu: ᡶᠠᡶᡠᠨ (fafun, “law; rule; punishment”)

法

1. Short for 法蘭西／法兰西 (Fǎlánxī, “France”).

   法語／法语  ―  fǎyǔ  ―  French language

   法棍  ―  fǎgùn  ―  French stick

• Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian (《现代汉语规范词典》) proscribes the use of the pronunciation fà.

法

1. Short for 法拉 (fǎlā, “farad”).

• “法”, 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 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. method
2. law, rule
3. principle
4. model
5. system

• Go-on: ほう (hō, Jōyō)^{←ほふ (fofu, historical)}
• Kan-on: ほう (hō, Jōyō)^{←はふ (fafu, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: はっ (ha', Jōyō ^†)^{←はふ (fafu, historical)}; ほっ (ho', Jōyō ^†)^{←ほふ (fofu, historical)}
• Kun: おきて (okite, 法); のっとる (nottoru, 法る); のり (nori, 法)
• Nanori: かず (kazu); つね (tsune); はかる (hakaru)

From Middle Chinese 法 (MC pjop). Originally, the kan'on was はふ (fafu), and the goon was ほふ (fofu), although both became ほう (hō) in modern Japanese. It is suggested that the kan'on was used in the general senses, while the goon was used in Buddhist contexts.

• (Tokyo) ほー [hòó] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [ho̞ː]

法(ほう) • (hō) ^{←はふ (fafu)?}

1. principle
2. law
3. code of law
4. method
5. etiquette
6. (Buddhism) dharma
7. (grammar) mood
8. (mathematics) divisor

• 方(ほう)法(ほう) (hōhō, “way, method, manner”)