粉

粉 U+7C89, 粉 ← 粈[U+7C88] CJK Unified Ideographs 粊 →[U+7C8A]

粉 (Kangxi radical 119, 米+4, 10 strokes, Cangjie input 火木金尸竹 (FDCSH), four-corner 98927, composition ⿰米分)

• 㥹

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 907, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 26872
• Dae Jaweon: page 1332, character 33
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3143, character 7
• Unihan data for U+7C89

trad. 粉 simp. # 粉

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *pɯnʔ): semantic 米 (“rice”) + phonetic 分 (OC *pɯn, *bɯns) – face powder made of rice.

Compare Burmese ဖုန် (hpun, “dust”) (Schuessler, 2007).

The earliest sense is believed to be “face powder”. The term is then used for the color of this powder, “white”, and later also the color of a face with this cosmetic, “pink”. In early modern Chinese, the ancient “face powder” sense is partly reinforced by 粉底 (fěndǐ) (from English foundation). (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

粉

1. powder 麵粉是小麥做的粉。 [MSC, trad.]面粉是小麦做的粉。 [MSC, simp.]Miànfěn shì xiǎomài zuò de fěn. [Pinyin]Flour is a powder made from wheat.
   1. face powder 粉墨登場／粉墨登场 ― fěnmòdēngchǎng ― to go on the stage
   2. flour
   3. starchy 個芋頭好粉／个芋头好粉 [Cantonese] ― go3 wu6 tau4-2 hou2 fan2 [Jyutping] ― the taro is starchy
   4. (Cantonese, slang) heroin
2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, ergative) to powder 粉碎 ― fěnsuì ― to smash 粉身碎骨 ― fěnshēn-suìgǔ ― to have one’s body smashed to pieces
   • 一門二世，粉骨衛主。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]一门二世，粉骨卫主。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: The Book of Southern Qi, by Xiao Zixian, 6th century CEYī mén èr shì, fěn gǔ wèi zhǔ. [Pinyin](please add an English translation of this usage example)
3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) white; whitewashed 粉壁 ― fěnbì ― white wall 粉飾／粉饰 ― fěnshì ― to whitewash
4. (～色) pink 我把頭髮染成了粉的。 [MSC, trad.]我把头发染成了粉的。 [MSC, simp.]Wǒ bǎ tóufa rǎnchéngle fěn de. [Pinyin]I dyed my hair pink.
5. (dialectal) to whitewash
6. food made from starch or flour (noodles, vermicelli, etc., usually not made from wheat flour) 粉條／粉条 ― fěntiáo ― Chinese vermicelli 涼粉／凉粉 ― liángfěn ― grass jelly 河粉 ― héfěn ― he fen noodles
   1. (specifically) cellophane noodles; bean or sweet potato noodles 南昌拌粉 ― Nánchāng bànfěn ― Nanchang-style bee hoon mixed with sauce 粥粉麵飯／粥粉面饭 [Cantonese] ― zuk1 fan2 min6 faan6 [Jyutping] ― congee, rice noodles, (wheat) noodles, and rice
7. (Cantonese) powdery

• 粉 (fěn) and 麵／面 (miàn): As cereal food, generally 粉 is something made from rice while 麵 is from wheat. But this is not a strict distinction. The two characters are usually not interchangeable when referring to a specific kind of noodles.

• (powder):

• (flour):

• (heroin):

• (pink):

• (noodles):

Short for 粉絲／粉丝 (fěnsī), from English fans.

粉

1. fan; fanatic 明粉 ― Míng fěn ― fan of the Ming dynasty 川粉 ― chuānfěn ― fan of Donald Trump 米粉 ― mǐfěn ― fan of Xiaomi
2. (neologism, Internet, slang) follower on a social media platform; subscriber
3. (transitive) to be a fan of (a person, a group, etc.); to admire

(fan):

• “粉”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014-

Shinjitai

粉

Kyūjitai

粉

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. powder

• Go-on: ふん (fun, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ふん (fun, Jōyō)
• Kun: こ (ko, 粉, Jōyō)、こな (kona, 粉, Jōyō)

Kanji in this term 粉 こGrade: 5 kun’yomi

⟨ko1⟩ → */kwo/ → /ko/

From Old Japanese.[1] Used phonetically to spell ko in the Man’yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.[2]

• (Tokyo) こ [kóꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[3][4][5]
• IPA(key): [ko̞]

粉(こ) • (ko)

1. [from 759] powder
2. [from 759] flour

This reading remains in compounds and in certain set phrases. Use as a standalone noun began disappearing from the late 1600s in preference for the bisyllabic, and less ambiguous, kona reading.[1]

Kanji in this term 粉 こなGrade: 5 kun’yomi

Appears to be 粉 (ko, “powder”, see above) +‎ な (-na, suffixing element, meaning unclear).[5]

First cited to 1683.[1]

• (Tokyo) こな [kònáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[3][4][5]
• IPA(key): [ko̞na̠]

粉(こな) • (kona)

1. [from 1683] powder
2. [from 1683] flour

This reading began to replace the monosyllabic ko reading from the late 1600s, likely due to sound shifts and the resulting ambiguity of monosyllabic words. Compare also ancient 足 (a) and modern 足 (ashi), ancient 羽 (ha) and modern 羽 (hane).[1]

• パウダー (paudā)

• “粉”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[2] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015-2026

From Middle Chinese 粉 (MC pjunX). Recorded as Middle Korean 분〮 (pwún) (Yale: pwún) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

• (powder; etc.):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [pun]
  • Phonetic hangul: [분]
• (in 분홍 (粉紅, bunhong)):
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [pu(ː)n]
  • Phonetic hangul: [분(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

粉 (eumhun 가루 분 (garu bun))

1. hanja form? of 분 (“powder”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

粉: Hán Nôm readings: phấn[1][2][3][4][5][6]

1. chữ Hán form of phấn (“powder”)