青

Derived characters

 * Appendix:Chinese radical/靑

Glyph origin
. Cinnabar was used for dyeing, and by extension, came to imply “color” in general, giving the combined meaning “color of growing plants” → “blue-green”.

In the modern glyph, the top component is reduced to, and the bottom component resembles the unrelated.

The of the character is based on the calligraphic form of the character.

Etymology 1
From. Cognate with, , ,. Note may be an old dialect variant of.

Definitions

 * 1) blue-green; blue (of sky, stone etc.); green (of grass, plants, mountain etc.)
 * 2) blue-green ("grue")-colored items
 * 3) green grass
 * 4) crops that have not yet ripened
 * 5) black (of hair, cloth, silk thread etc.)
 * 6)  green
 * 7)  lime green
 * 8) young; adolescent
 * 9)  east
 * 10)  spring
 * 1) black (of hair, cloth, silk thread etc.)
 * 2)  green
 * 3)  lime green
 * 4) young; adolescent
 * 5)  east
 * 6)  spring
 * 1) young; adolescent
 * 2)  east
 * 3)  spring
 * 1)  east
 * 2)  spring
 * 1)  east
 * 2)  spring
 * 1)  east
 * 2)  spring

Usage notes
The meaning for “blue” and “black” is more commonly used in Classical Chinese, while in modern Chinese, the meaning for “green” is more common. In fact, 青 covered both green and blue ("grue") until modern times. For example,,. However, there are still some expressions for the meaning of blue, e.g. ,

In Cantonese, the use of 青 to mean “black” is still used in circumstances where would be considered inauspicious, as it is a near-homophone of. For example, used to describe clothing would be a near-homophone of both beggar and a beggar's garment.

Descendants
Others:

Definitions

 * 1) fresh
 * 2)  bright; pretty; neat
 * 1)  bright; pretty; neat
 * 1)  bright; pretty; neat
 * 1)  bright; pretty; neat

Kanji

 * 1) blue, cyan, azure
 * 2)  green
 * 3) immature, unripe, young
 * 4) publication, record
 * 5) east

Etymology 1
→ →

From, ultimately from.

Appears as the latter part in older compounds with an -s- infix or prefix. It is unclear if this leading is indicative of an earlier form (sawo), or if this was an addition for euphony to avoid vowel clusters, or for other reasons. This is also seen in  and.

Given that this only ever appears interstitially, and given the semantics, this  may be cognate with 🇨🇬 interfix  used to mark possession; compare.

Pronunciation

 * (Kyoto) あ$1$ [àóꜜ]

Noun

 * 1) blue
 * 2) one of three primary colors
 * 3) a shade of blue to blue green
 * 4)  green
 * : green light
 * 1) the black, bluish color of a horse's hair; also, such a horse
 * Auo. アヲ (青) 馬の毛色で, 全体に黒くて青みがあり, 両耳の内側に多少白いところのあるもの. この部分の毛も他の部分と同じようにすっかり黒い時には, Curo(黒)と呼ばれる.
 * : one of the three hanafuda cards bearing a blue ; a of the three aotan cards, worth 3 points
 * 1)  a blue card in
 * Auo. アヲ (青) 馬の毛色で, 全体に黒くて青みがあり, 両耳の内側に多少白いところのあるもの. この部分の毛も他の部分と同じようにすっかり黒い時には, Curo(黒)と呼ばれる.
 * : one of the three hanafuda cards bearing a blue ; a of the three aotan cards, worth 3 points
 * 1)  a blue card in
 * 1)  a blue card in

Prefix

 * 1) unripe, young

Etymology 2
From.

Noun

 * 1) the color blue

Etymology 3
. The reading might be an obscure term from 🇨🇬 or dialect. The use of the character 青 arises from its.

Noun

 * 1)  a beast that looks like a weasel, and is said to have lived in present-day Fukuoka and Yamaguchi prefectures
 * 2)  a beast that looks like a wolf, and is said to have appeared around

Han character

 * 1) green
 * 2) blue