鮮

鮮 U+9BAE, 鮮 ← 鮭[U+9BAD] CJK Unified Ideographs 鮯 →[U+9BAF]

鮮 (Kangxi radical 195, 魚+6, 17 strokes, Cangjie input 弓火廿手 (NFTQ), four-corner 28351, composition ⿰魚羊)

• 㶍, 蘚, 䇁, 䉳, 廯, 癬

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1470, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 46133
• Dae Jaweon: page 2002, character 25
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4688, character 6
• Unihan data for U+9BAE

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *sen, *senʔ, *sens): semantic 魚 (“fish”) + abbreviated phonetic 羴 (OC *qʰreːn, *qʰljen).

Alternatively, may be ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 魚 (“fish”) + 羊 (“sheep”) – delicious.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *sar (“new; fresh”). Cognate with Proto-Tibeto-Burman *g-sar (“new; fresh”), whence Tibetan གསར་བ (gsar ba, “new; fresh”), Rawang angsar (“new”), Drung aksal (“new”), Mizo tʰarᴴ (“new”) (Schuessler, 2007); cognate with Tibetan གསར་ (gsar, “new”), Burmese ဆန်း (hcan:, “new, fresh”) (Hill, 2019).

trad. 鮮 simp. 鲜 alternative forms

鮮

1. seafood; aquatic food 海鮮／海鲜 ― hǎixiān ― seafood
2. delicious food; fresh food 嘗鮮／尝鲜 ― chángxiān ― to taste fresh food
3. fresh; not stale 鮮魚／鲜鱼 ― xiānyú ― fresh fish
4. brightly colored; gaily colored 那塊布的顏色很鮮。 [MSC, trad.]那块布的颜色很鲜。 [MSC, simp.]Nà kuài bù de yánsè hěn xiān. [Pinyin]The color of that piece of cloth is very bright.
5. delicious; tasty 媽媽煮的湯的味道很鮮。 [MSC, trad.]妈妈煮的汤的味道很鲜。 [MSC, simp.]Māmā zhǔ de tāng de wèidào hěn xiān. [Pinyin]The soup that mother cooked tastes delicious.
6. not yet withered; not yet wilted (of flowers, grass, etc.) 鮮花／鲜花 ― xiānhuā ― fresh flower
7. special; peculiar; strange and interesting 屢見不鮮／屡见不鲜 ― lǚjiànbùxiān ― common occurrence 小孩說的話很鮮。 [MSC, trad.]小孩说的话很鲜。 [MSC, simp.]Xiǎohái shuō de huà hěn xiān. [Pinyin]The words of the child were peculiar.
8. (Hakka) thin; dilute Alternative form: 先
9. (Zhangzhou Hokkien) sky blue; azure 鮮色／鲜色 [Hokkien] ― chheⁿ-sek [Pe̍h-ōe-jī] ― sky blue
10. a surname

• → Vietnamese: tươi

Etymology not clear (Schuessler, 2007).

trad. 鮮 simp. 鲜 alternative forms 鱻尟赻尠

鮮

1. rare; little; few
   • 量力而動，其過鮮矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]量力而动，其过鲜矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4th century BCE, translation from Zuozhuan: Commentary on the “Spring and Autumn Annals” (2017), by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li and David SchabergLiànglì ér dòng, qí guò xiǎn yǐ. [Pinyin]If one weighs one’s strength and then acts, one’s errors will be few.
2. rarely; infrequently
   • 子曰：「巧言令色，鮮矣仁！」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]子曰：「巧言令色，鲜矣仁！」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge’s versionZǐyuē: “Qiǎoyánlìngsè, xiǎn yǐ rén!” [Pinyin]The Master said, “Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue!”
3. to lack; to be short of
4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 巘 / 𪩘 (yǎn, “the top of a mountain; cliff; small mountain”)
   • 度其鮮原，居岐之陽 [MSC, trad.]度其鲜原，居岐之阳 [MSC, simp.]From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11th – 7th centuries BCEdù qí xiǎn yuán, jū qí zhī yáng [Pinyin]He determined the small mountains and hills, settling in the south of Qi

trad. 鮮 simp. 鲜

鮮

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 獻 / 献 (“to offer; to present”)

• “鮮”, 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.
• “鮮”, 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-
• 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), “鲜（新～）”, 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 214.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. fresh, vivid, clear, brilliant

• Go-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kun: あざやか (azayaka, 鮮やか, Jōyō)、すくない (sukunai, 鮮い)、あたらしい (atarashii, 鮮しい)

Kanji in this term 鮮 せんGrade: S on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 鮮 (MC sjen|sjenX|sjenH).

• IPA(key): [sẽ̞ɴ]

鮮(せん) • (sen) ←せん (sen)?

1. fresh
2. vivid
3. (Empire of Japan) Korea 全(ぜん)鮮(せん) ― zensen ― the entirety of Korea 内(ない)鮮(せん)一体(いったい) ― naisen ittai ― unification of the mainland and Korea

鮮 (eumhun 고울 선 (goul seon))

1. hanja form? of 선 (“smooth; fish”)

• 조선 (朝鮮, joseon, “Joseon; Korea”)
• 생선 (生鮮, saengseon, “fish”)
• 선혈 (鮮血, seonhyeol, “recently spilled blood”)
• 신선 (新鮮, sinseon, “freshness”)

鮮: Hán Việt readings: tiên[1][2][3][4][5][6][7], tiển[3][6][7][8], tiễn[9] 鮮: Nôm readings: tươi[1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9], tẽn[4]

1. chữ Nôm form of tươi (“fresh; new and untainted”)