江

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

• エ
• 𛀁

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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kroːŋ) : semantic 氵 + phonetic 工 (OC *koːŋ).

"Yangtze River"

Borrowed from a substrate Mon-Khmer 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
2. (by extension) river
3. A surname​: Jiang (mainland China), Chiang (Taiwan), Kong (Hong Kong)

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 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, historical)←𛀁 (𛀁, 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 gradually dropped out in Early Middle Japanese, persisting in some dialects and specific terms. For instance, see Yebisu on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

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

江 (hiragana え, rōmaji 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 (hiragana え, rōmaji E)

1. a surname

/kau/ → /kɔː/ → /koː/

From Middle Chinese 江 (MC kˠʌŋ).

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

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • IPA^(key): [ko̞ː]

江 (hiragana こう, rōmaji kō, historical hiragana かう)

1. (archaic) large river

江 (hiragana こう, rōmaji Kō, historical hiragana かう)

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

Various nanori readings.

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

江 (hiragana ごう, rōmaji Gō)

1. a surname
2. a unisex given name

江 (eumhun 강 강 (gang gang))

1. river

• 江南 (강남, gangnam) : south of river, district south of the Han River
• 江北 (강북, gangbuk) : north of river, district north of the Han River
• 江山 (강산, gangsan) : river and mountain, landscape
• 江邊 (강변, gangbyeon) : riverside

江 (giang)

1. (only in compounds) river