文

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

1. Kangxi radical #67, ⽂.

• Index:Chinese radical/文

• KangXi: page 477, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13450
• Dae Jaweon: page 831, character 39
• Hanyu Da Zidian: 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.

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, “to tattoo”).

   文身  ―  wénshēn  ―  to tattoo

   文面  ―  wénmiàn  ―  face tattoo

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

   文件  ―  wénjiàn  ―  document

   文章  ―  wénzhāng  ―  article, essay

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

   甲骨文  ―  jiǎgǔwén  ―  oracle bone script

   書同文，車同軌 / 书同文，车同轨 [Classical Chinese]  ―  shū tóng wén, chē tóng guǐ [Pinyin]  ―  (please add an English translation of this example)

7. (written) language

   Antonyms: 語／语 (yǔ)

   中文  ―  zhōngwén  ―  Chinese

   英文  ―  yīngwén  ―  English

8. culture

   文化  ―  wénhuà  ―  culture

   文明  ―  wénmíng  ―  civilization

9. 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

10. refined; educated; cultured; intellectual

    斯文  ―  sīwén  ―  refined, cultured

    文雅  ―  wényǎ  ―  elegant, refined

    文人  ―  wénrén  ―  scholar

11. 47th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "pattern, repetition" (𝌴)
12. (archaic) Classifier for coins.
13. (numismatics) mill (a tenth of a cent)

    一文  ―  yī wén  ―  one mill

14. A surname​.

文

1. to cover

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

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: もん (mon, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ぶん (bun, Jōyō)
• Kun: ふみ (fumi, 文, Jōyō); あや (aya, 文)
• Nanori: かざり (kazari); ふ (fu); も (mo)

From Middle Chinese 文 (mjun, “ornate; a kind of coin; language, literature, a letter, a character”).

• On’yomi: Goon
  • (Tokyo) も​ん [móꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
  • IPA^(key): [mõ̞ɴ]

文 (hiragana もん, rōmaji mon)

1. the mon, an old currency
2. a unit of length for measuring the size of one's foot (from the way that the mon coins would be lined up and used as a kind of inch marker)
3. a character, a letter
4. writing, something written
5. a magical spell
6. (also spelled 紋) a design, a pattern
7. (also spelled 紋) a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”)

The design and crest senses are more often spelled 紋.

A later borrowing from Middle Chinese. Compare modern Min Nan reading bûn, Hakka vûn.

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • (Tokyo) ぶ​ん [búꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
  • IPA^(key): [bɯ̟̃ᵝɴ]

文 (hiragana ぶん, rōmaji bun)

1. (grammar) a sentence
2. writing, composition
3. a design or pattern as decoration
4. literature, learning, scholarship
5. elegance, refinement (especially of writing or wording)
6. a saying, an aphorism, a proverb

Possibly a shift from an older Middle Chinese-derived reading pun.[3] Earlier Japanese writing was ambiguous regarding the final n sound spelled ん in modern Japanese, with this sound often spelled (and possibly pronounced) as む (mu) instead.

*/pumu/ → /pumi/ → /ɸumi/

This reading appears in the Heian period, in works such as The Tale of Genji.[3][1]

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ふ​み [fúꜜmì] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟ᵝmʲi]

文 (hiragana ふみ, rōmaji fumi)

1. writing, something written
2. a letter (written communication), an epistle
3. (archaic) study, scholarship (especially of classical Chinese)
4. a style of 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”)

• (letter, epistle): 手 (て)紙 (がみ) (tegami)

Uncertain. Appears in texts from the early Heian period.[3][1]

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) あや​ [àyáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[1][2]
  • IPA^(key): [a̠ja̠]

文 (hiragana あや, rōmaji aya)

1. (also spelled 紋, 綾)
   1. a pattern, a design, especially one with diagonally crossing lines
   2. a diagonal crossing
   3. a flowery expression or turn of phrase
   4. a plot, a scheme
   5. a refrain or recurring phrase in a piece of music
   6. a harder vein or grain in a leaf or piece of wood or bamboo
   7. a stain, a blemish
   8. a mediator, a go-between (apparently from the way that a go-between can make the relationship more indirect and indistinct)
   9. a small indistinct fluctuation in a trend line
2. (also spelled 綾, 絢)
   1. a kind of woven silk textile with a diagonally crossing pattern
   2. short for 綾織 (ayaori): a twill weave; someone who weaves twill
   3. short for 綾竹 (ayadake): in a loom, a bamboo pole placed between the heddle and the back beam or platen, used to improve the handling
   4. short for 綾取り (ayatori): cat's cradle

For the second group of senses, the 綾 spelling is more common.

文 (eumhun 글월 문 (geurwol mun))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• 呪文 (주문, jumun)
• 文魚 (문어, muneo)

文: Hán Việt readings: văn[1][2][3]
文: Nôm readings: văn[1][2][4], von[3][5][4], vằn[1][2]

1. Hán tự form of văn (“literature; letters; culture; civilization”).