昌 U+660C, 昌 ← 昋[U+660B] CJK Unified Ideographs 昍 →[U+660D] Stroke order

(Kangxi radical 72, 日+4, 8 strokes, Cangjie input 日日 (AA), four-corner 60600, composition ⿱日曰)

  • 倡, 唱, 猖, 淐, 娼, 琩, 椙, 晿, 焻, 錩, 誯, 𰎅, 𣣘, 焻, 𤏒, 菖, 䅛, 𬕑, 𬗡, 𪣧, 𪉨(𬸶), 𥓥, 裮, 𢃑, 𥚕, 閶(阊), 䮖, 猖, 䗉, 鯧(鲳), 𪂇, 𥫅
  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 491, character 10
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13803
  • Dae Jaweon: page 852, character 16
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1490, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+660C

simp. and trad. alternative forms 𣅊

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): semantic (“sun”) + semantic (“mouth”). The mouth is a reference to being awaken at dawn through shouts or songs. During the Warring States Period, developed into .

昌 (OC khlaŋ ~ thaŋ) is possibly related to 陽 (OC *laŋ), in which case it’d go back to *khlaŋ, supported by Proto-Vietic *hlaŋᴮ; note the phonetic parallelism with 唱 (OC k-hlaŋh) (Schuessler, 2007).

See 陽/阳 (yáng) for further etymology.

  1. (literary, or in compounds) prosperous; flourishing
  2. (~州) (historical) Chang Prefecture
  3. a surname
  4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) sunlight
  5. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) good; proper; right
  6. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) beautiful; lovely
  • (prosperous):
  • (antonym(s) of “prosperous”):

  1. (Southern Min, in compounds) facial expression

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of (“to initiate; to propose”)
  2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of (chàng, “to chant; to recite”)
  • “昌”, 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-
  • 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “昌”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 26.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

  1. good
  2. prosper
  3. bright, shining, unobscured
  • Go-on: しょう (shō)←しやう (syau, historical)
  • Kan-on: しょう (shō)←しやう (syau, historical)
  • Kun: さかん (sakan, 昌ん)
  • Nanori: まさ (masa)、あき (aki)、よし (yoshi)、まさし (masashi)、あきら (akira)、さかえ (sakae)、あつ (atsu)、すけ (suke)
  • 昌(しょう)運(うん) (shōun)
  • 昌(しょう)盛(せい) (shōsei)
  • 盛(せい)昌(しょう) (seishō)
  • 隆(りゅう)昌(しょう) (ryūshō)
  • 繁(はん)昌(じょう) (hanjō)
  • 昌(しょう)言(げん) (shōgen)

(eumhun 창성할 창 (changseonghal chang))

  1. prosperity, flourishing, thriving

昌: Hán Việt readings: xương[1][2][3][4][5][6] 昌: Nôm readings: xương[1][2][3][4][5][6], xang[1]

  1. chữ Nôm form of xang (“used in xênh xang (“stylish, dapper, fashionable”)”)
  2. chữ Nôm form of xương (“bone”)
    • Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經), 12th century, folio 29b