朕

朕 (Kangxi radical 74, 月+6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 月廿大 (BTK), four-corner 7823₄, composition ⿰月关)

• 𠹻, 㴨, 㮳, 𨃵, 𨫇, 𣞅, 勝, 塍, 螣, 縢, 𠗲, 滕, 黱, 騰, 幐, 賸, 榺, 謄

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 505, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14361
• Dae Jaweon: page 884, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2071, character 5
• Unihan data for U+6715

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

Simplified from 𦩎 (舟 → 月 and 灷 → 关), corruption of an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 舟 (“boat”) + 丨 (“item”) + 廾 (“two hands”), seen in the oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, originally meaning “to mend a boat”. It was later borrowed to be used as a first-person pronoun.

朕

1. (imperial) I; my (similar to the royal we; reserved for use by the emperor since the Qin Dynasty)

   • 爾無不信，朕不食言。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     尔无不信，朕不食言。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE

     Ěr wú bù xìn, zhèn bù shíyán. [Pinyin]

     On no account disbelieve me - I will not go back on my word.

   • 朕為始皇帝。後世以計數，二世三世至于萬世，傳之無窮。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     朕为始皇帝。后世以计数，二世三世至于万世，传之无穷。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Zhèn wèi Shǐhuángdì. Hòushì yǐ jìshù, èrshì sānshì zhìyú wànshì, chuán zhī wúqióng. [Pinyin]

     We ourselves shall be called First Emperor, and successive generations shall be numbered consecutively: Second, Third, and so on until for 1,000 or 10,000 generations, the succession passing down without end.

   • 二世與趙高謀曰：「朕年少，初即位，黔首未集附。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     二世与赵高谋曰：「朕年少，初即位，黔首未集附。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Èrshì yǔ Zhào Gāo móu yuē: “Zhèn niánshào, chū jíwèi, qiánshǒu wèi jífù.” [Pinyin]

     Qin Er Shi discussed with Zhao Gao, "I am young and just ascended the throne. The mass has not submitted to my rule."

   • 帝問曰：「朕應天受命，卿何以不樂？」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     帝问曰：「朕应天受命，卿何以不乐？」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Liu Yiqing (editor), A New Account of the Tales of the World, 5^th century CE

     Dì wèn yuē: “Zhèn yìngtiānshòumìng, qīng héyǐ bù yuè?” [Pinyin]

     King Wen of Wei asked,"I conform to the wish of Heaven and become the emperor. Why are you unhappy?"

2. (literary) omen; sign
3. (Cantonese) Alternative form of 𠹻 (zam6, “classifier for smells”)

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. (imperial) I (similar to the royal we)

• Go-on: じん (jin)^{←じん (zin, historical)←ぢむ (dimu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: ちん (chin, Jōyō)^{←ちん (tin, historical)←ちむ (timu, ancient)}
• Kun: きざし (kizashi, 朕し); わが (waga, 朕が); われ (ware, 朕); われ (ware, 朕れ)

• (Tokyo) ち​ん [chíꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕĩɴ]

朕(ちん) • (chin) 

1. (imperial) I, me (similar to the royal we)
   • 1945 August 15, Emperor Shōwa, 大東亜戦争終結ノ詔書 [Gyokuon-hōsō]:

     朕(チン)深(フカ)ク世(セ)界(カイ)ノ大(タイ)勢(セイ)ト帝(テイ)國(コク)ノ現(ゲン)狀(ジョウ)トニ鑑(カンガ)ミ非(ヒ)常(ジョウ)ノ措(ソ)置(チ)ヲ以(モッ)テ時(ジ)局(キョク)ヲ收(シュウ)拾(シュウ)セムト欲(ホッ)シ茲(ココ)ニ忠(チュウ)良(リョウ)ナル爾(ナンジ)臣(シン)民(ミン)ニ告(ツ)ク

     Chin fukaku sekai no taisei to teikoku no genjō to ni kangami hijō no sochi o motte jikyoku o shūshū semu to hosshi koko ni chūryō naru nanji shinmin ni tsuku

     To our good and loyal subjects, after pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining in our empire today, we have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure.

After the Second World War, this pronoun has fallen out of use. Since then, the emperors of Japan refer to themselves with the pronoun 私(わたくし) (watakushi).

From Middle Chinese 朕 (MC drimX). Recorded as Middle Korean 띰〯 (Yale: ttǐm) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi(ː)m]
• Phonetic hangul: [짐(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Wikisource 朕 (eumhun 나 짐 (na jim))

1. (imperial) Hanja form^? of 짐 (“I; me”). (similar to the royal we)

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

朕: Hán Việt readings: trẫm
朕: Nôm readings: trũm, chũm

1. (imperial) chữ Hán form of trẫm (“I; me”). (similar to the royal we)