間

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, 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: 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

Historical forms of the character 間
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 門 (“door”) + 日 (“sun”). Originally 閒, moonlight (月) peeking through a door (門) – interstice; space.

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。／两点间直线最短。  ―  Liǎng diǎn jiān zhíxiàn zuì duǎn.  ―  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.
7. (chiefly Cantonese) Classifier for buildings in general, including schools, banks, cinemas, hospitals, shops, factories.
8. a surname

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. 4^th century BCE

     Ròushí 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)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #9175”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(grade 2 “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)

• 間性(かんせい) (kansei): intersex
• 人間(にんげん) (ningen)
• 時間(じかん) (jikan)

From Middle Chinese 間／间 (kɛn, “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

間 (eumhun 사이 간 (sai gan))

1. Hanja form^? of 간 (“between”).

間: Hán Nôm readings: gian, dán, gián

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

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