倭

倭 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+8, 10 strokes, cangjie input 人竹木女 (OHDV), four-corner 2224₄, composition ⿰亻委)

• 䔀, 𬕥

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 109, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 796
• Dae Jaweon: page 232, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 179, character 8
• Unihan data for U+502D
• Shuowen Jiezi: volume 15, page 46, character 18

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *qoːl, *qoːlʔ, *qrol): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 委 (OC *qrol, *qrolʔ).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Various theories suggest that 倭 was influenced by Old Japanese 我 (wa, “I, me”), the shorter height of the ancient Japanese, referring to the practice of bowing, or the obsolete sense of the word that meant winding possibly used to refer to the distance between Japan and China (Etymology 2).^[1]

倭

1. (historical, now derogatory) Japan; Yamato
2. (in some animal names) dwarf; pygmy

   倭蛙  ―  wōwā  ―  Nanorana pleskei

   倭河馬／倭河马  ―  wōhémǎ  ―  pygmy hippopotamus

   倭黑猩猩  ―  wōhēixīngxīng  ―  bonobo; pygmy chimpanzee

3. (historical, obsolete) winding (Etymology 2)

• (Japan):

• 大和 (Dàhé)
• 日本 (Rìběn)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

倭

1. (historical dictionaries only) obedient
2. used in 倭遲／倭迟

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

倭

1. only used in 倭墮／倭堕 (wǒduò, “a hairstyle for women that was popular during the Han Dynasty in which the hair was gathered up in a lopsided bun”)

• “倭”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 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), “倭”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 247.
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “倭”, in 长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou: 世界图书出版有限公司 [World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.], →ISBN, page 699.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

1. Yamato
2. Japan (a country and archipelago of East Asia)

• Go-on: い (i)^{←ゐ (wi, historical)}、わ (wa)
• Kan-on: い (i)^{←ゐ (wi, historical)}、わ (wa)
• Kun: やまと (yamato, 倭)、したがう (shitagau, 倭う)

From Middle Chinese 倭 (MC 'wa). Various theories suggest that 倭 was influenced by Old Japanese 我 (wa, “I, me”), the shorter height of the ancient Japanese, or referring to the practice of bowing.

• (Tokyo) わ [wáꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [β̞a̠]

倭(わ) • (Wa) 

1. (historical, derogatory) ancient Japan

During the Nara period, Japanese scholars believed that 倭 was derogatory as a name for their own country, because the Chinese word depicted a man bending down. Around 757 CE, Japan replaced 倭 with 和(わ) (Wa), which had the same pronunciation in Old Japanese, but instead meant "harmonious".

• “^▲倭”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[3] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

From a corrupted or unorthodox reading. The original reading is 와 (wa) based on Middle Chinese 倭 (MC 'wa).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [wɛ] ~ [we̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [왜/웨]

倭 (eumhun 왜나라 왜 (waenara wae))

1. hanja form^? of 왜 (“ancient Japan, Yamato”)

From Middle Chinese 倭 (MC 'jwe).

倭 (eumhun 유순할 위 (yusunhal wi))

1. (literary Chinese) hanja form^? of 위 (“docile, obedient”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [4]

倭: Hán Nôm readings: uy, oải, nụy/nuỵ, oa

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