胸

胸 (Kangxi radical 130, 肉+6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 月心山大 (BPUK), four-corner 7722₀, composition ⿰月匈)

• KangXi: page 981, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29442
• Dae Jaweon: page 1432, character 32
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2070, character 1
• Unihan data for U+80F8

Historical forms of the character 胸
Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script

Originally written 匈. Now ideogrammic compound (會意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *qʰoŋ) : semantic 肉 (“meat”) + phonetic 匈 (OC *qʰoŋ, “chest”).

Unclear. Noting that Middle Chinese *x- could have arisen from voiceless *r̥-, Schuessler (2007) considers it either connected to Chepang [script needed] (ruŋʔ, “breastbone, center of chest”) or from Austroasiatic (compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *-ruŋ (“to shield, to protect”) > Proto-Mon-Khmer *truŋ (“stable, sty, cage”) > Old Khmer [script needed] (drooŋ, “ribcage, chest, breast”) > Khmer ទ្រុង (trung, “cage”); related to 籠 (OC *roːŋ, “cage, coop”)).

胸

1. chest; thorax
2. breast; bosom
3. (figurative) mind; heart of hearts; thought

• (chest): 心口 (xīnkǒu), 懷抱／怀抱 (huáibào), 胸部 (xiōngbù), 胸膛 (xiōngtáng), (literary) 胸坎 (xiōngkǎn), (Leizhou Min) 乳符
• (breast):

• (mind):

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. breast, chest
2. heart, feeling, thought

• Go-on: く (ku)
• Kan-on: きょう (kyō, Jōyō)
• Kun: むね (mune, 胸, Jōyō); むな (muna, 胸, Jōyō ^†)

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.[1] Possibly the original form of mune below.[1]

Cognate with 棟 (muna, “main roofline, roof ridge”), from the underlying idea of central or main portion.[1]

Possibly also cognate with 空, 虚 (muna, “emptiness, void”), from the idea of cavity.

Seldom used in isolation even in Old Japanese. Only found as the first element of compounds in modern Japanese.[1][2]

• IPA^(key): [mɯ̟ᵝna̠]

胸(むな) • (muna) 

1. chest, breast
   • 711–712, Kojiki (Kamitsumaki (“First Volume”))

     奴婆多麻能　久路岐美祁斯遠 / 麻都夫佐尓　登理與曾比 / 淤岐都登理　牟那美流登岐 / 波多多藝母　許禮婆布佐波受 / 幣都那美　　曾迩奴岐宇弖

     ぬばたまの　くろきみけしを / まつぶさに とりよそひ / おきつとり むなみるとき / はたたぎも これはふさはず / へつなみ そにだきうて

     nubatama no kuroki mikeshi o / matsubusa ni toriyosohi / oki tsu tori muna miru toki / hatatagi mo kore wa fusawazu / he tsu nami so ni dakiute

     I put on black iris-seed garments with schisandra, and though I fluff up my garments like when the ocean birds look at their chests, I say this is not good and I cast them off into the sea's waves...

2. heart, inner thoughts

Sound shift from muna above, from the fusion of muna with the emphatic nominal particle い (i): /muna i/ → /mune/, from Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *munay. Similar to the phonetic process observed in the shift from 神 (kamu, “spirit, god”, older form used in compounds) to 神 (kami, newer form, used as a standalone noun).

Alternatively, may be a compound of 身 (mu, “body”) +‎ 根 (ne, “root”).[1]

Cognate with 棟 (mune, “main roofline, roof ridge”) and 宗, 旨 (mune, “gist, main idea, primary part”), from the underlying idea of central or main portion.[1]

Notably, 棟 and 宗 also have an older reading muna that is only used in compounds (for 宗, possibly only in place names). Meanwhile, 旨 (mune) appears later in the textual record (in the Uji Shūi Monogatari of the early 1200s), and this reading is used as a standalone noun rather than in compounds. This is consistent with other nouns that have paired vowel forms, and suggests that muna is probably the original form, and that the compound derivation is a folk etymology.

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.[1]

• (Tokyo) むね​ [mùnéꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[2]
• IPA^(key): [mɯ̟ᵝne̞]

胸(むね) • (mune) 

1. chest, breast
2. heart, inner thoughts

   胸(むね)の中(なか)の熱(あつ)い思(おも)い

   mune no naka no atsui omoi

   the passion in one's heart

3. bosom, breasts

   彼女(かのじょ)はどんな服(ふく)を着(き)ても胸(むね)が目立(めだ)ちます。

   Kanojo wa donna fuku o kite mo mune ga medachimasu.

   No matter what clothes she wears, her chest always stands out.

From Middle Chinese 胸 (MC hɨoŋ). Recorded as Middle Korean 胷/휴ᇰ (hyung) (Yale: hyung) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource 胸 (eumhun 가슴 흉 (gaseum hyung))

1. Hanja form^? of 흉 (“chest; box”).

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

胸: Hán Nôm readings: hung, hông

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