Jump to content
Chinese-Forums
  • Sign Up

mystery character


bryce1

Recommended Posts

Hello

I'm using Winvue Active Chinese (a, as of now, free flashcard program to learn Chinese) and one of the characters is as follows:

门 (in traditional) + 月 inside

The reading says "xian2" as in 悠闲,闲话,闲暇, etc. (except replace the 闲 with the mystery character above)

Is it possible that this is a variant of 闲 or is this a non-existing character/a character with a totally different meaning? My dictionaries don't seem to list it.. (under pronunciation nor by radical searches).

If you do know of this character, is the pronunciation/meaning similar? 谢谢大家!

Bryce/粤初

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your replies! I'm not sure why I couldn't find it in Yellowbridge before~~

I tried converting the character using a trad-simplified converter on the net.. is it possible that this character doesn't exist in simplified? (or that the simplified version has a 门 which isn't simplified?)

It looks like all the word examples on Yellowbridge

http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/charsearch.php?searchChinese=1&zi=%E9%96%92

are the same character combinations which are used with 闲. So perhaps this is a simplified equivalent, right? (and my Winvue program is showing the wrong character in the 简体字 setting)

谢谢

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks SChinFChin for the link! (excellent site btw.. I like how they mention "characters to not get confused with")

Yellowbridge has 閑 as the traditional version of 闲. Do you know if 閑 and 閒 equivalent?

http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/wordsearch.php?searchMode=C&word=%E9%97%B2&search=Search

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The character appears in a couple of poems from the Book of Odes, where it is equivalent to 间 jian1:

111. 十畝之

十畝之兮、桑者閑閑兮。

行與子還兮。

十畝之外兮、桑者泄泄兮。

行與子逝兮。

Among their ten acres ,

The mulberry-planters stand idly about .

' Come , ' [says one to another] , ' I will go away with you . '

Beyond those ten acres ,

The mulberry-planters move idly about .

' Come , ' [says one to another] , ' I will go away with you . '

294. 桓 HUAN

綏萬邦、婁豐年。

天命匪解。

桓桓武王、保有厥士。

于以四方、克定厥家。

於昭于天。

皇以之。

There is peace throughout our myriad regions ;

There has been a succession of plentiful years : --

Heaven does not weary in its favour .

The martial king Wu ,

Maintained [the confidence of] his officers ,

And employed them all over the kingdom ,

So securing the establishment of his Family .

Oh ! glorious was he in the sight of Heaven ,

Which kinged him in the room [of Shang] .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi there,

I can unravel your mystery as I'm studying in Taiwan (where they still use traditional characters) ok:

閒 (xian2) basically means: spare (time) or leisure, it also means: not busy, idle or digressive.

I'll give you a few words so you can see how it's used:

悠閒 - to be leisurely or carefree.

閒人 - an idler or unoccupied person.

閒心 - leisurely mood, free.

閒聊 - chat.

閒空 - free time, spare time. (well spotted skylee, yes it was a typo, I used 控 by mistake :oops:).

Hope this was useful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Click here to reply. Select text to quote.

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...