間

間 U+9593, 間 ← 閒[U+9592] CJK Unified Ideographs 閔 →[U+9594] Stroke order

間 (Kangxi radical 169, 門+4, 12 strokes, Cangjie input 日弓日 (ANA), four-corner 77607, composition ⿵門日)

• 僴, 𭂠, 墹, 𡢃(㛠), 𡼏, 𢢀(𫺒), 𢵧, 澗(涧), 𣊺, 𬛖, 橺(𱣤), 𭮣, 𤏐(𭴳), 𤩎, 瞷(𬑗), 磵, 𥼴, 𦅘, 𦗬, 𧒄, 襇(裥), 𧢑, 𧬘, 𧯑, 𨅍(𨁴), 𨣉(𬪫), 鐧(锏), 𩻾, 𪙨, 覸, 𩴦, 鷼, 𪪢, 癎, 蕳(𫈉), 簡(简), 鬝, 𪧶
• 㗴 (Exception: Only for Japanese character form which contains ⿰口間. Other regional forms contain ⿰口閒 instead)

• 间 (Simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1333, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 41249
• Dae Jaweon: page 1839, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4288, character 6
• Unihan data for U+9593

trad. 間 simp. 间 alternative forms 閒

Variant form of 閒 (OC *ɡreːn, “space, gap”) with 月 (“moon”) replaced by 日 (“day”).

The two pronunciations are related, with Pronunciation 2 (間 (OC *kreːns)) being the exoactive of Pronunciation 1 (間 (OC *kreːn)).

Related to:

• 隙 (OC *kʰraɡ, “crack; chink”), 澗 (OC *kreːns, *kraːns, “ravine; brook (between mountains)”) (Wang, 1982);
• 閒 (OC *ɡreːn, “lazy; leisure”) (Karlgren, 1957; Baxter, 1992).

Externally, likely related to Mizo kâr (“space between; interval”), Burmese ကြား (kra:, “in-between; interval; interim”), အကြား (a.kra:, “gap; break”) (Schuessler, 2007).

間

1. within a definite time period or place 時間／时间 ― shíjiān ― time, period 晚間／晚间 ― wǎnjiān ― evening, night 世間／世间 ― shìjiān ― world, earth 空間／空间 ― kōngjiān ― space
2. among; between 小鳥們在樹枝間唱歌。 [MSC, trad.]小鸟们在树枝间唱歌。 [MSC, simp.]Xiǎo niǎo men zài shùzhī jiān chàng gē. [Pinyin]The birds were singing among the branches of the tree. 兩個公司間的談判非常成功。 [MSC, trad.]两个公司间的谈判非常成功。 [MSC, simp.]Liǎng ge gōngsī jiān de tánpàn fēicháng chénggōng. [Pinyin]The negotiations between the two companies were successful. 兩點間直線最短。 [MSC, trad.]两点间直线最短。 [MSC, simp.]Liǎng diǎn jiān zhíxiàn zuì duǎn. [Pinyin]The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
3. a moment; a little while; instant
4. room; chamber 房間／房间 ― fángjiān ― room 衛生間／卫生间 ― wèishēngjiān ― bathroom, toilet 衣帽間／衣帽间 ― yīmàojiān ― cloakroom 雙人間／双人间 ― shuāngrénjiān ― double room
5. section of a room; lateral space between two pairs of pillars
6. Classifier for smallest units of housing, such as rooms and shopfronts.
   • 一座城市需要一間女性書店 [MSC, trad.]一座城市需要一间女性书店 [MSC, simp.]From: ~2020s, sign in 馨巢書屋 (Xinchao Bookstore), Shanghai, translated in 2023 Nov 3, The Bookstore Giving Shanghai’s Women a Room of Their Own, Fan Yiying and Liu Shuhuan, Sixth Toneyī zuò chéngshì xūyào yī jiān nǚxìng shūdiàn [Pinyin]A city needs a women’s bookstore
7. (chiefly Cantonese) Classifier for buildings in general, including schools, banks, cinemas, hospitals, shops, factories.
8. a surname

Others:

• → Vietnamese: căn

間

1. opening; gap; break
2. estrangement; alienation; hostility
3. spy; secret agent
4. to keep away from; to keep apart
5. to separate; to partition
6. to alternate; to do something alternately
7. to be mixed up with; to be intermingled
8. to sow discord
   • 肉食者謀之，又何間焉？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]肉食者谋之，又何间焉？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4th century BCERòushí zhě móu zhī, yòu hé jiàn yān? [Pinyin]This is the business of meat-eating officials, why meddle with it?
9. to blame; to reproach
10. intermittently; sometimes
11. in secret; clandestinely

間

1. (obsolete) Variant pronunciation of the classifier sense.
2. (obsolete) Used in place names.

• “間”, 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-
• “間”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2026.
• 李如龙 [Li, Ru-long]; 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu]; 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying]; 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019), “间（中～）”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 210.

Shinjitai

間

Kyūjitai

閒

(Second grade kyōiku kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 閒)

• Go-on: けん (ken, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: かん (kan, Jōyō)
• Kun: あいだ (aida, 間, Jōyō)、ま (ma, 間, Jōyō)、あい (ai, 間)、あわい (awai, 間)、はざま (hazama, 間)、うかがう (ukagau, 間う)、しずか (shizuka, 間か)、ひそかに (hisokani, 間かに)
• Nanori: ちか (chika)

• 間(かん)性(せい) (kansei): intersex
• 人(にん)間(げん) (ningen)
• 時(じ)間(かん) (jikan)
• 間(ま)違(ちが)う (machigau)
• 間(ま)違(ちが)える (machigaeru)
• 無(む)間(げん) (mugen)

Kanji in this term 間 あいだGrade: 2 kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 間 – see the following entry. 【あいだ】 [noun] a space [noun] a while; an interval; (when followed by に) meanwhile [noun] between [noun] during (This term, 間, is an alternative spelling of the above term.) Kanji in this term 間 まGrade: 2 kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 間 – see the following entry. 【ま】 [noun] a spatial interval [noun] the space between two (physical) things [noun] a room in a building [noun] a temporal interval [noun] the time between two events [noun] the time to do something or that a state lasts for [noun] timing, moment [counter] used to count a number of rooms (This term, 間, is an alternative spelling of the above term.) Kanji in this term 間 あいGrade: 2 kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 間 – see the following entry. 【あい】 [noun] (literary or dialectal) interval of time or space; time; during; between; leisure [noun] relation; relationship; terms (between people) [noun] short for 間狂言 (aikyōgen) [noun] short for 間駒 (aigoma) [noun] short for 間の手 (ai no te) (This term, 間, is an alternative spelling of the above term.) Kanji in this term 間 かんGrade: 2 on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 間 (MC kean, “interval”).

• (Tokyo) かん [káꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
• IPA(key): [kã̠ɴ]

間(かん) • (kan)

1. space, interval; among, between
2. extent, scope
3. hidden, invisible
4. alternative spelling of 閑 (kan, “free time”)

間(かん) • (kan)

1. interval

間(かん) • (-kan)

1. suffixes some expressions of time to tell duration rather than time or date 二(に)時(じ) ― ni-ji ― two (o’clock) 二(に)時(じ)間(かん) ― ni-jikan ― two hours 二(に)時(じ)五(ご)分(ふん) ― ni-ji go-fun ― five past two 五(ご)分(ふん)(間(かん)) ― go-fun (kan) ― five minutes 二(ふつ)日(か) ― futsuka ― the 2nd (day of the month) 二(ふつ)日(か)(間(かん)) ― futsuka (kan) ― two days

Kanji in this term 間 はざまGrade: 2 kun’yomi For pronunciation and definitions of 間 – see the following entry. 【狭間はざま】 [noun] [from the early 900s] (spatial) a narrow space or gap between two objects [noun] [from 720] a valley (place between two mountains) [noun] [from 1120] (temporal) an interval between two occurrences [noun] [from 1867] an arrowslit, a loophole [noun] [from 1830] (obsolete) a openwork round ornament historically attached on the lid of a bush warbler’s cage [noun] This term needs a translation to English. (This term, 間, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

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

間 (eumhun 사이 간 (sai gan))

1. hanja form? of 간 (“between”)

間: Hán Nôm readings: căn, dán, gian, gián, giãn

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

• Nom Foundation