探

See also: 深

探	U+63A2, 探 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-63A2

← 採
[U+63A1]

CJK Unified Ideographs

掣 →
[U+63A3]

Translingual

Han character

探 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 手月金木 (QBCD), four-corner 5709₄, composition ⿰扌罙)

Derived characters

𠽄

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 438, character 14
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 12276
Dae Jaweon: page 788, character 12
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1907, character 6
Unihan data for U+63A2

Chinese

trad.		探
simp. ^#		探
alternative forms		𢲘

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (罙) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
探	l̥ʰuːm, l̥ʰuːms
棎	*ɦljom
賝	*l̥ʰum
琛	*l̥ʰum
穼	*srum
深	hljum, hljums

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰuːm, *l̥ʰuːms) : semantic 扌 (“hand”) + phonetic 𥥍 ().

Etymology

As the initial of the 罙 phonetic series is uncertain, 探 (tàn) may be related to 深 (shēn) (provided the initial was *nh-) (Schuessler, 2007).

Alternatively, this agrees with Mizo tham (“to feel (especially with the hand)”).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): tàn, tān (tan⁴, tan¹)

(Zhuyin): ㄊㄢˋ, ㄊㄢ
Cantonese (Jyutping): taam³ / taam¹
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): tâm / tham
Eastern Min (BUC): tăng
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): thàm / tham

(Teochew, Peng'im): tam³
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵thoe
Xiang (Changsha, Wiktionary): tan⁴

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: tàn
  - Zhuyin: ㄊㄢˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: tàn
  - Wade–Giles: tʻan⁴
  - Yale: tàn
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tann
  - Palladius: тань (tanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰän⁵¹/
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: tān
  - Zhuyin: ㄊㄢ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: tan
  - Wade–Giles: tʻan¹
  - Yale: tān
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tan
  - Palladius: тань (tanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰän⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: taam³ / taam¹
  - Yale: taam / tāam
  - Cantonese Pinyin: taam³ / taam¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: tam³ / tam¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰaːm³³/, /tʰaːm⁵⁵/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tâm / tham
  - Hakka Romanization System: dam^ˊ / tam
  - Hagfa Pinyim: dam¹ / tam⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /tam²⁴/, /tʰam⁵⁵/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: tăng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰaŋ⁵⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Jinjiang, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thàm
  - Tâi-lô: thàm
  - Phofsit Daibuun: taxm
  - IPA (Quanzhou, Jinjiang): /tʰam⁴¹/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Kaohsiung): /tʰam²¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /tʰam¹¹/
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tham
  - Tâi-lô: tham
  - Phofsit Daibuun: tafm
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /tʰam⁴⁴/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: tam³
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: thàm
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰam²¹³/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁵thoe
  - MiniDict: thoe^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²thoe
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /tʰø³⁴/
Xiang
- (Changsha)
  - Wiktionary: tan⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰan⁴⁵/

Middle Chinese: thom

Rime
Character	探
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	透 (6)
Final (韻)	覃 (159)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	他含切
Baxter	thom
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰʌm/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰəm/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɒm/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰəm/
Li Rong	/tʰᴀm/
Wang Li	/tʰɒm/
Bernhard Karlgren	/tʰăm/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tān
Expected Cantonese Reflex	taam¹

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*l̥ˤ[ə]m/

(Zhengzhang): /*l̥ʰuːm/, /*l̥ʰuːms/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	探
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	tān
Middle Chinese	‹ thom ›
Old Chinese	/*l̥ˁ[ə]m/
English	put the hand into and test
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	探	探
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	11249	11250
Phonetic component	罙	罙
Rime group	侵	侵
Rime subdivision	3	3
Corresponding MC rime	探	僋
Old Chinese	/*l̥ʰuːm/	/*l̥ʰuːms/

Definitions

探

to reach for; to grope for
to find; to locate
to search; to explore
to inquire
to visit
to scout; to spy
spy
to try
to extend; to stretch out

Compounds

Descendants

→ Vietnamese: thăm

Japanese

Kanji

探

(Sixth grade kyōiku kanji)

look for

Readings

Go-on: とん (ton)^{←とん (ton, historical)}^{←とむ (tomu, ancient)}
Kan-on: たん (tan, Jōyō)^{←たん (tan, historical)}^{←たむ (tamu, ancient)}
Kun: さがす (sagasu, 探す, Jōyō)、さぐる (saguru, 探る, Jōyō)

Suffix

探(たん) • (-tan)

(archaic) spy from (a country)
- 1947, Ango Sakaguchi, 『二十七歳』
  独(どく)探(たん)のケンギを受(う)けて、大(たい)正(しょう)五(ご)年(ねん)だかに国(こく)外(がい)退(たい)去(きょ)を命(めい)じられたという。
  Doku-tan no kengi o ukete, Taishō go-nen daka ni kokugai taikyo o meijirareta to iu.
  [He was] accused of being a German spy and was officially deported in some time around 1916, as the story goes.

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 探 (MC thom). Recorded as Middle Korean 탐 (tham) (Yale: tham) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

探

Wikisource

探 (eumhun 찾을 탐 (chajeul tam))

hanja form^? of 탐 (“search”)

Compounds

탐구 (探究, tamgu)
탐사 (探査, tamsa)
탐색 (探索, tamsaek)
탐문 (探問, tammun)
탐방 (探訪, tambang)
탐지 (探知, tamji)
탐험 (探險, tamheom)
염탐 (廉探, yeomtam)
탐구 (探求, tamgu)
정탐 (偵探, jeongtam)
탐정 (探偵, tamjeong)
시탐 (試探, sitam)

References

국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [1]

Vietnamese

Han character

探: Hán Nôm readings: thám, phăm, thăm, thớm, xăm, xom, tham

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