蜃

蜃 (Kangxi radical 142, 虫+7, 13 strokes, cangjie input 一女中一戈 (MVLMI), four-corner 7113₆, composition ⿸辰虫(G) or ⿱辰虫(HTJK))

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1084, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 33089
• Dae Jaweon: page 1552, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2854, character 6
• Unihan data for U+8703

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *djɯns, *djɯnʔ, *djins) : phonetic 辰 (OC *djɯn) + semantic 虫 (“insect”).

May also be an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) , with 辰 possibly being an agricultural tool made from clam, see there for more.

Possibly related to 辰 (OC *djɯn, “5th earthly branch; dragon”) (Schuessler, 2007); see there for more.

Carr (1990) organizes characters in the 辰 phonetic series into two groups, one of which is "dragon", which includes 蜃 as well as 晨 (OC *djɯn, “dragon star”).

蜃

1. a type of large shellfish; a type of large bivalve; clam

   • 雉入大水為蜃 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     雉入大水为蜃 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     zhì rù dàshuǐ wèi shèn [Pinyin]

     Pheasants enter the great water and become large clams

2. (mythology) the shen, a shapeshifting aquatic monster originally imagined as a clam and later as a type of dragon

   蜃景  ―  shènjǐng  ―  mirage

   • 海旁蜃氣象樓臺，廣野氣成宮闕然。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     海旁蜃气象楼台，广野气成宫阙然。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Han, circa 1^st century CE

     Hǎipáng shènqì xiàng lóutái, guǎngyě qì chéng gōngquè rán. [Pinyin]

     By the sea, the clamʼs mist resembles towers; in the wild expanse, mist becomes palaces thus.

   • 門前蛟蜃氣，蓑上蕙蘭馨。 [MSC, trad.]
     门前蛟蜃气，蓑上蕙兰馨。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 齊己 (Qí Jǐ) 《湘江漁父》 "The Fisherman on Xiang River", in 《全唐詩》 Quan Tangshi.

     Ménqián jiāoshèn qì, suōshàng huìlán xīn. [Pinyin]

     Before the door, the drakes blow mist; on the coir, the orchids emit fragrance.

3. (historical) ritual vessel painted with images of clam
4. (historical) Short for 蜃炭.

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03647
• “蜃”, 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–

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

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

• Go-on: じん (jin)
• Kan-on: しん (shin)
• Kun: おおはまぐり (ōhamaguri, 蜃)

• 蜃気楼
• 蜃蛤

蜃 • (sin) (hangeul 신, revised sin, McCune–Reischauer sin, Yale sin)

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

蜃: Hán Nôm readings: thận, thẩn, thằn

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