仙

See also: 仚
仙 U+4ED9, 仙
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4ED9
← 付
[U+4ED8] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 仚 →
[U+4EDA]

Translingual
Stroke order
0 strokes

Han character

仙 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 人山 (OU), four-corner 22270, composition ⿰亻山)

Derived characters
  • 𣳈, 苮, 𥬍, 𬏣

References
  • KangXi: page 92, character 13
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 374
  • Dae Jaweon: page 196, character 3
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 114, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+4ED9

Chinese

Glyph origin
Historical forms of the character 仙
Transcribed ancient scripts

L31826

L31827

L31828

L06560

L06561

L06562

L06563

L06564

L06565

References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and
  • Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series (山) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
山 *sreːn
疝 *sreːn, *sraːns
邖 *sreːn
汕 *sreːnʔ, *sraːns
訕 *sraːn, *sraːns
仙 *sen
秈 *sen
苮 *sen
屾 *srin

Ideogrammic compound (會意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *sen) : semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 山 (OC *sreːn, “mountain”) — a person moving into a mountain to practise becoming immortal.

Originally 僊. The current form is first attested in the clerical script of the Han dynasty.

Etymology 1
simp. and trad.
 仙
alternative forms
 
僊
仚
屳
㒨 ancient
僲
僊
仚
屳
㒨 ancient
僲
𠑗 ancient
𠏡

A relatively late word, perhaps Sino-Tibetan (Schuessler, 2007). Compare Tibetan གཤེན (gshen, “shaman”), as in Tibetan གཤེན་རབ (gshen rab, “Shenrab”), the founder of the Tibetan religion Bon, although this might be a loan from Chinese (ibid.). Starostin sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s[ă]n (“a kind of demon”), comparing it to Tibetan བསེན་མོ (bsen mo, “female devil”) and Jingpho sawn (“malignant female nat”). Compare also with Burmese စုန်း (cun:, “witch, wizard”).

Pronunciation

Note:
  • siêng1 - Chaozhou;
  • siang1 - Shantou.
  • Wu
  • Xiang
    • (Changsha)
      • Wiktionary: sienn1
      • Sinological IPA (key) (old-style): /siẽ³³/
      • Sinological IPA (key) (new-style): /ɕiẽ³³/
  • Dialectal data
Variety Location 仙
Mandarin Beijing /ɕian⁵⁵/
Harbin /ɕian⁴⁴/
Tianjin /ɕian²¹/
Jinan /ɕiã²¹³/
Qingdao /siã²¹³/
Zhengzhou /sian²⁴/
Xi'an /ɕiã²¹/
Xining /ɕiã⁴⁴/
Yinchuan /ɕian⁴⁴/
Lanzhou /ɕiɛ̃n³¹/
Ürümqi /ɕian⁴⁴/
Wuhan /ɕiɛn⁵⁵/
Chengdu /ɕian⁵⁵/
Guiyang /ɕian⁵⁵/
Kunming /ɕiɛ̃⁴⁴/
Nanjing /sien³¹/
Hefei /ɕyĩ²¹/
Jin Taiyuan /ɕie¹¹/
Pingyao /ɕie̞¹³/
Hohhot /ɕie³¹/
Wu Shanghai /ɕi⁵³/
Suzhou /siɪ⁵⁵/
Hangzhou /ɕiẽ̞³³/
Wenzhou /ɕi³³/
Hui Shexian /se³¹/
Tunxi /siɛ¹¹/
Xiang Changsha /siẽ³³/
Xiangtan /siẽ³³/
Gan Nanchang /ɕiɛn⁴²/
Hakka Meixian /sien⁴⁴/
Taoyuan /sien²⁴/
Cantonese Guangzhou /sin⁵⁵/
Nanning /ɬin⁵⁵/
Hong Kong /sin⁵⁵/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /sian⁵⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /sieŋ⁴⁴/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /siŋ⁵⁴/
Shantou (Min Nan) /siaŋ³³/
Haikou (Min Nan) /tin²³/
Rime
Character 仙
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 心 (16)
Final (韻) 仙 (77)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 相然切
Baxter sjien
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /siᴇn/
Pan
Wuyun		 /siɛn/
Shao
Rongfen		 /sjæn/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /sian/
Li
Rong		 /siɛn/
Wang
Li		 /sĭɛn/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /si̯ɛn/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 xiān
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex		 sin1
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 仙
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 xiān
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ sjen ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[s]a[r]/
English immortal (n.)

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 仙
Reading # 1/1
No. 11060
Phonetic
component		 山
Rime
group		 元
Rime
subdivision		 2
Corresponding
MC rime		 仙
Old
Chinese		 /*sen/

Definitions

仙

  1. (Taoism) xian (an immortal; celestial being)
  2. (figurative) extraordinary person
    詩仙／诗仙  ―  shīxiān  ―  great poet; epithet of Li Bai
  3. a euphemism for the deceased
    仙逝  ―  xiānshì  ―  to pass away
  4. a surname
Descendants
Sino-Xenic (仙):
  • → Japanese: 仙(せん) (sen)
  • → Korean: 선(仙) (seon)
  • → Vietnamese: tiên (仙)

Others:

Compounds
Derived terms from 仙

See also

Etymology 2
simp. and trad.
 仙
alternative forms 銑／铣 Min Nan

Borrowed from English cent.

Pronunciation

Definitions

仙

  1. (Cantonese, Min Nan, Malaysian Mandarin, Singaporean Mandarin) cent
    五仙硬幣／五仙硬币 [Cantonese]  ―  ng5 sin1 ngaang6 bai6 [Jyutping]  ―  five-cent coin
    佢係私生子，佢老豆死嗰陣一個仙都冇分畀佢。 [Cantonese, trad.]
    佢系私生子，佢老豆死嗰阵一个仙都冇分畀佢。 [Cantonese, simp.]
    keoi5 hai6 si1 sang1 zi2, keoi5 lou5 dau6 sei2 go2 zan6 jat1 go3 sin1 dou1 mou5 fan1 bei2 keoi5. [Jyutping]
    He is a son born out of wedlock, so when his dad died, he didn't even inherit one cent.
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 分 (“fen; cent”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 分
Mandarin Beijing 分
Taiwan 分
Jinan 分
Xi'an 分
Wuhan 分
Chengdu 分
Yangzhou 分
Hefei 分
Malaysia 仙
Singapore 分
Cantonese Guangzhou 分
Hong Kong 仙, 仙士 dated
Gan Nanchang 分
Hakka Meixian 分
Jin Taiyuan 分
Min Bei Jian'ou 分
Min Dong Fuzhou 分
Min Nan Xiamen 占, 分
Quanzhou 占
Zhangzhou 占
Tainan 仙
Penang (Hokkien) 鐳, sen
Singapore (Hokkien) 占
Manila (Hokkien) 仙
Chaozhou 分
Singapore (Teochew) 占
Wu Suzhou 分
Wenzhou 分
Xiang Changsha 分
Shuangfeng 分

Compounds
  • 仙都唔仙
  • 巴仙 (bāxiān)

See also

Etymology 3

From clipping of English senior.

Pronunciation

Definitions

仙

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) senior
Derived terms
  • 仙制

Japanese

Kanji
仙

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

Compounds
Compounds

Etymology 1
Kanji in this term
仙
せん
Grade: S
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 仙 (MC siᴇn, literally “immortal”). Compare modern Mandarin reading xiān and Cantonese reading sin1.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [sẽ̞ɴ]

Noun

仙(せん) • (sen) 

  1. a sage or hermit, an enlightened person, usually immortal and ageless
  2. (mythology) short for 仙人 (sennin): a wizard or mage; an immortal living as a hermit in the mountains
  3. by extension, the region or area where a sennin lives
  4. the supernatural techniques for becoming immortal and ageless
  5. a person of exceptional talent

Etymology 2
Kanji in this term
仙
せんと
Grade: S
irregular

Borrowed from English cent.[1][2] The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun.

For pronunciation and definitions of 仙 – see the following entry.
【セント】
[noun] [1860] cent (various national currencies, 1⁄100 of a unit)
[noun] [1872] saint
(This term, 仙, is an alternative (obsolete) spelling of the above term.)

Usage notes

This word is almost always spelled in katakana as セント.

See also

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 仙 (MC siᴇn). Recorded as Middle Korean 션 (syen) (Yale: syen) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Pronunciation

Hanja

Wikisource 仙 (eumhun 신선 선 (sinseon seon))

  1. Hanja form? of 선 (“a sage or hermit, an enlightened person, usually immortal and ageless”).

Compounds
Compounds

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

Vietnamese

Han character

仙: Hán Nôm readings: tiên

Noun

仙

  1. xian (Taoism)
  2. fairy
  3. celestial
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