警

警 (Kangxi radical 149, 言+13 in traditional Chinese, 言+12 in simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean, 20 strokes in traditional Chinese, 19 strokes in simplified Chinese and Japanese and Korean, cangjie input 廿大卜一口 (TKYMR), four-corner 4860₁, composition ⿱敬言)

• 𫬺

• 儆

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1183, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 35989
• Dae Jaweon: page 1645, character 30
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4017, character 4
• Unihan data for U+8B66

Historical forms of the character 警
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreŋʔ) : phonetic 敬 (OC *kreŋs) + semantic 言 (“spoken language, speech”).

Cognate with 驚 (OC *kreŋ, “to be afraid; to scare”) (Schuessler, 2007); the sense "to be on guard" is the endoactive of 驚 (OC *kreŋ). See there for more.

儆 (OC *kreŋʔ, *ɡreŋs, “to warn; to guard against”) is the same word.

警

1. to warn; to admonish

   警告  ―  jǐnggào  ―  to warn

2. to be on the alert; to be vigilant

   警覺／警觉  ―  jǐngjué  ―  vigilance

3. intuitive; sharp; alert
4. aphoristic; epigrammatic; witty
5. alarm; alert; siren

   火警  ―  huǒjǐng  ―  fire alarm

6. Short for 警察 (jǐngchá, “police”).

   警車／警车  ―  jǐngchē  ―  police car

   交通警 [Cantonese]  ―  gaau¹ tung¹ ging² [Jyutping]  ―  traffic police

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. admonish
2. commandment

• Go-on: きょう (kyō)^{←きやう (kyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: けい (kei, Jōyō)
• Kun: いましめる (imashimeru, 警める)

警 (eumhun 경계할 경 (gyeonggyehal gyeong))

1. Hanja form^? of 경 (“guard, watch”).
2. Hanja form^? of 경 (“alert, alarm”).

• 경계 (警戒, gyeonggye, “being alert; vigilant”)
• 경호 (警護, gyeongho, “bodyguard”)

警: Hán Nôm readings: cảnh

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