春

春 U+6625, 春 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6625 ← 昤 [U+6624] CJK Unified Ideographs 昦 → [U+6626]

Stroke order

Stroke order

There are minor differences in where the last stroke of the top component (top-left to bottom-right diagonal) starts – on the second horizontal stroke or on the third.

春 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 手大日 (QKA), four-corner 5060₃, composition ⿱𡗗日)

• This character is not to be confused with 舂 (U+8202) which is visually similar but unrelated.

• 偆, 㖺, 堾, 媋, 𢝣, 湷, 𬌸, 𬯌, 暙, 䐏, 椿, 瑃, 𨕌, 㿤, 睶, 𬓉, 𮄵, 蝽, 賰(䞐), 踳, 𨩃, 䮞(𩨁), 鰆(䲠), 𪂹, 𠝩, 萶, 箺, 䦮, 𩄄, 鬊, 惷, 𣕮, 𭾇, 𪃣, 蠢, 𩯥

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 493, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13844
• Dae Jaweon: page 856, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1496, character 10
• Unihan data for U+6625

Originally phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *tʰjun) : semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 屯 (OC *duːn, *tun, “sprout”) + semantic 日 (“sun”). However, the sprout as a phonetic component can be another reference to plants growing. The sun was added later, thus leading to the intermediate version 萅. Eventually, 艸 and 屯 merged into 𡗗.

The character 春 itself is probably a variant of 屯 (OC *duːn, *tun) as they are equivalent for the meaning “spring” in Old Chinese literature. Unrelated to 泰.

simp. and trad.		春
alternative forms		萅 旾 㫩 𣇸 𣈤

Schuessler (2007) relates it to 芚 (OC *duːn, “(of plants) to begin to grow”); he also compares it Khmer ដុះ (doh, “to grow; to germinate; to sprout”), as well as 穿 (OC *kʰljon, *kʰljons, “to bore through”) (ibid.).

Sagart (2023b) relates it to a vulgar (i.e. ignoble and popular) word which means "egg", which lacked a character, whose modern reflexes are Meixian Hakka 春 (cun¹, “egg, roe”), Sixian Hakka 春 (chhûn), and Cantonese 春 (ceon¹, “egg, roe; testicle”) (IPA: /t͡ʃʰɵn⁵⁵/); and for which he further reconstructs Old Chinese *tʰu[n] ~ *tʰu[r]. He further relates OC *tʰu[n] ~ *tʰu[r] to Bodo (India) dəy, Mizo tui, Proto-Karen *ʔdejᴮ, from tentative Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tʰur, (STEDT, however, reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d(w)əy (“egg, testicle”)) and notes a connection between "eggs" and Chinese new year season, as birds generally nest and lay eggs in the warmer months in the north [1].

春

1. spring (season)

   春天  ―  chūntiān  ―  spring

   四季如春  ―  sìjìrúchūn  ―  to experience a moderate and pleasant climate throughout the year

   • 暫伴月將影，行樂須及春。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     暂伴月将影，行乐须及春。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 8th century, Li Bai, 月下獨酌

     Zàn bàn yuè jiāng yǐng, xínglè xū jí chūn. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (literary) year; age

   • 妾身守空閨，良人行從軍。自期三年歸，今已歷九春。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     妾身守空闺，良人行从军。自期三年归，今已历九春。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 3rd century, Cao Zhi, 雜詩·西北有織婦

     Qièshēn shǒu kōngguī, liángrén xíng cóngjūn. Zì qī sān nián guī, jīn yǐ lì jiǔ chūn. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. spring scenery
4. vitality; liveliness; energy; life

   妙手回春  ―  miàoshǒuhuíchūn  ―  to effect a miraculous cure and bring the dying back to life

5. love; lust

   春情  ―  chūnqíng  ―  amorous feelings

   思春期  ―  sīchūnqī  ―  puberty

   • 有女懷春，吉士誘之。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     有女怀春，吉士诱之。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yǒu nǚ huái chūn, jíshì yòu zhī. [Pinyin]

     There is a young lady with thoughts natural to the spring,
     And a fine gentleman would lead her astray.

6. a type of alcoholic drink which is fermented from spring to winter

Seasons in Mandarin · 四季 (sìjì, “four seasons”) (layout · text) · category
春 (chūn, “spring”)	夏 (xià, “summer”)	秋 (qiū, “fall; autumn”)	冬 (dōng, “winter”)

In Chinese culture, upside-down 春 is often used on CNY decorations and symbolizes the arrival of spring after a homophonic pun: 春倒 (dào, “inverted”) = 春到 (dào, “to arrive”).

simp. and trad.		春
alternative forms		膥

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d(w)əj (“egg; testicle”) (Baxter and Sagart, 2014). Sagart (2023b) reconstructs Old Chinese *tʰu[n] ~ *tʰu[r] from tentative Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tʰur, some of whose other descendants are Bodo (India) dəy, Mizo tui, Proto-Karen *ʔdejᴮ, etc.; he also relates it to 春 (chūn) "springtime" after noting a connection between eggs and Chinese new year season, as birds generally nest and lay eggs in the warmer months in the north (ibid.).

春

1. (Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew) egg; roe

   水蛇春咁長／水蛇春咁长 [Cantonese]  ―  seoi² se⁴ ceon¹ gam³ coeng⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  extremely long or lengthy (literally, “as long as a chain of water snake eggs”)

2. (Cantonese, vulgar) testicle
3. (Cantonese, vulgar) goddamn, the hell

   你搞乜春呀？ [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   nei⁵ gaau² mat¹ ceon¹ aa³? [Jyutping]

   What the fuck are you doing?

4. (Cantonese, vulgar, always with the classifier) nothing; damn all; jack shit; bugger all (Classifier: 條／条 c)

   Synonyms: 毛, 鐵／铁 (tit³)

   你識條春咩？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   你识条春咩？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ sik¹ tiu⁴ ceon¹ me¹? [Jyutping]

   What the hell do you know?

5. (Cantonese, vulgar) negates the meaning of the sentence

   關你春事！／关你春事！ [Cantonese]  ―  gwaan¹ nei⁵ ceon¹ si⁶! [Jyutping]  ―  None of your damn business!

• “春”, 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–

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: しゅん (shun, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: しゅん (shun, Jōyō)
• Kun: はる (haru, 春, Jōyō)
• Nanori: あずま (azuma)^{←あづま (aduma, historical)}、あつ (atsu)、かす (kasu)、かず (kazu)、す (su)、とき (toki)、はじめ (hajime)

Kanji in this term
春
はる Grade: 2
kun'yomi

/paru/ → /ɸaru/ → /haru/

From Old Japanese.

• (Tokyo) はる [háꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ha̠ɾɯ̟]

• Audio:

  (file)

春(はる) • (haru) 

1. the spring (season)

   Synonyms: 春季 (shunki), 春期 (shunki)

2. (by extension) the New Year
3. adolescence, youth
4. a heyday of one’s life
5. a time of happiness after a long period of difficulty
6. (slang, euphemistic) sexual intercourse

   春(はる)をひさぐ ― haru o hisagu ― to engage in prostitution(literally, “to sell sex”)

Seasons in Japanese · 四(し)季(き) (shiki, “four seasons”) (layout · text) · category
春(はる) (haru, “spring”) 春(しゅん)季(き) (shunki, “spring”) 春(しゅん)期(き) (shunki, “spring period”)	夏(なつ) (natsu, “summer”) 夏(か)季(き) (kaki, “summer”) 夏(か)期(き) (kaki, “summer period”)	秋(あき) (aki, “fall; autumn”) 秋(しゅう)季(き) (shūki, “fall; autumn”) 秋(しゅう)期(き) (shūki, “fall period”)	冬(ふゆ) (fuyu, “winter”) 冬(とう)季(き) (tōki, “winter”) 冬(とう)期(き) (tōki, “winter period”)

Kanji in this term
春
しゅん Grade: 2
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 春 (MC tsyhwin).

春(しゅん) • (shun) 

1. spring (season)
2. New Year
3. life, vitality
4. lust, passion
5. months and years

From Middle Chinese 春 (MC tsyhwin).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448	츈 (Yale: chyùn)
Middle Korean
Text	Eumhun
	Gloss (hun)	Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[3]	봄〮 (Yale: pwóm)	츈 (Yale: chyùn)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰun]
• Phonetic hangul: [춘]

Wikisource

春 (eumhun 봄 춘 (bom chun))

1. Hanja form^? of 춘 (“spring (season)”). [affix]

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

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• On (unclassified): しゅん (shun, Jōyō)
• Kun: はる (haru, 春, Jōyō)

Kanji in this term
春
はる Grade: 2
kun'yomi

/ɸaru/ → /haru/

Shift from faru below.

Cognate with mainland Japanese 春 (haru).

• (Shuri-Naha) はる [hàrú] (Heiban - [0])
• IPA^(key): [haɾu]

春(はる) (haru) 

1. the spring (season)

• 初(はち)春(はる) (hachiharu)

Kanji in this term
春
ふぁる Grade: 2
irregular

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

• (Shuri-Naha) ふぁる [fàrú] (Heiban - [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɸaɾu]

春(ふぁる) (faru) 

1. (archaic) the spring (season)

From Proto-Japonic *paru. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

春 (paru) (kana はる)

1. the spring (season)

• 春霞 (parukasumi₁)
• 春日 (parupi₁)
• 初春 (patuparu)

• Japanese: 春 (haru)

春: Hán Việt readings: xuân (樞(xu)倫(luân)切(thiết))^[1][2][3][4]
春: Nôm readings: xuân^{[1][2][5][4][6][7]}, xoan^{[1][2][3][4][7]}

1. Chữ Hán form of xuân (“spring (season)”).