虹

A rainbow.

虹 (Kangxi radical 142, 虫+3, 9 strokes, cangjie input 中戈一 (LIM), four-corner 5111₀, composition ⿰虫工)

• 渱, 𬁅, 𫕩, 𬀒

• KangXi: page 1076, character 40
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32830
• Dae Jaweon: page 1545, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2834, character 8
• Unihan data for U+8679

Historical forms of the character 虹
Shang	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script	Small seal script

Originally pictographic (象形) in the oracle bone script. The ancient Chinese regarded the rainbow as a two-headed creature.

In the seal script, it has become a phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kroːŋs, *koːŋs, *ɡoːŋ) : semantic 虫 (“insect; creature”) + phonetic 工 (OC *koːŋ).

Probably non-Sino-Tibetan; compare Proto-Mien *kluŋᴬ (“rainbow”), Thai รุ้ง (rúng, “rainbow”), Zhuang duzdoengz (“rainbow”), saidoengz (“rainbow”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Benedict (1986) and Carr (1990) relate this to 龍 (OC *b·roŋ, *mroːŋ, “dragon”) and 紅 (OC *ɡoːŋ, “red”).

虹

1. rainbow; primary rainbow (Classifier: 條／条 m; 道 m)

   彩虹  ―  cǎihóng  ―  rainbow

   天上出虹了。  ―  Tiānshàng chū jiàng le.  ―  There's a rainbow in the sky.

2. (literary, figurative) bridge

• (rainbow):

• 霓 (ní)

虹

1. ^† to fester
2. Only used in 虹洞.

虹

1. (historical) A county in modern Anhui, China

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

• Go-on: ぐ (gu); ぐう (gū); こう (kō)
• Kan-on: こう (kō)^{←かう (kau, historical)}; こう (kō)
• Kun: にじ (niji, 虹, Jōyō)

虹 (niji, nuji, noji): a rainbow.

⟨nizi⟩ → /niʑi/

From Old Japanese.[1] First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.[2]

Also attested as man'yōgana form 爾之 in the 和名類聚抄 (Wamyō Ruijushō) of c.931-938 and 爾自 in the 金光明最勝王経音義 (Konkōmyō Saishōō-kyō Ongi) of 1079. May be a shift from earlier nuji or noji readings (see below).

• 霓

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) にじ [nìjí] (Heiban – [0])[3]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟iʑi]

虹(にじ) • (niji) 

1. a rainbow

   春雨(はるさめ)がやんだ途端(とたん)に、美(うつく)しい虹(にじ)が現(あらわ)れた。

   Harusame ga yanda totan ni, utsukushii niji ga arawareta.

   Just as the spring shower passed, a beautiful rainbow appeared.

• 虹霓(こうげい) (kōgei)

⟨nuzi⟩ → /nuʑi/

From Old Japanese[1], attested in the 北野本日本書紀 (Kitano-bon Nihon shoki) of the late Heian period.[4] May be a shift from earlier noji (see below); compare Okinawan ぬーじ (nuːdʑi) and Miyako ぬず (nudzɿ).

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) ぬじ [nùjí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [nɯ̟ᵝʑi]

虹(ぬじ) • (nuji) 

1. (dialect, possibly obsolete) a rainbow

⟨no₁zi⟩ → /noʑi/

From Old Japanese, appeared in the Man'yōshū of 759 CE as an eastern dialectal variant.[1][4][5]

Cognate with Okinawan ぬーじ (nuːdʑi) and Miyako ぬず (nudzɿ).

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) のじ [nòjí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [no̞ʑi]

虹(のじ) • (noji) 

1. (obsolete) a rainbow

From Middle Chinese 虹 (MC ɦuŋ). Recorded as Middle Korean 호ᇰ (hwong) (Yale: hwong) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource 虹 (eumhun 무지개 홍 (mujigae hong))

1. Hanja form^? of 홍 (“rainbow”).

   Synonym: 霓 (예 (ye))

From Middle Chinese 虹 (MC kuŋ^H).

虹 (eumhun 고을 이름 공 (go'eul ireum gong))

1. Hanja form^? of 공 (“a placename”).

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

虹: Hán Việt readings: hồng[1]
虹: Nôm readings: vồng[1]

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