劇
부수: 刂
획수: 15획
劇 has the meanings ‘severe’, ‘intense’ and ‘drama’.
劇 = 豦 + 刂
X = semantic/phonetic + semantic (distortion)
• 豦 is disputed between a tiger 虍 and a boar fighting 豕, or a mythical boar with a tiger’s head. In either case, 豦 is associated with the sense of ‘being extremely violent’.
• 刂 is not a component of 刀 (knife), but rather a distortion of 力 (effort). 力 likely depicts a plough and from this comes the meanings ‘strength’, ‘force’ and ‘ability’.
In modern vocabulary 豦, only has ‘theatrical’ associated meanings.
Evolution:
劇 = ’to overexert oneself’ ➔ ’severe/dramatic’ ➔ ’theatrical’
Mnemonic
Imagine you’re walking in the mountains and encounter a wild boar 豕 with a tiger’s head 虍. You hastily 力 run away to prevent this story from becoming a 비劇.
Vocab
| 劇的 | 극적 | theatrical; dramatic |
| 演劇 | 연극 | play; drama |
| 悲劇 | 비극 | tragedy |
| 歌劇 | 가극 | opera |
| 寸劇 | 촌극 | short play; skit |
| 喜劇 | 희극 | comedy, farce |
| 無言劇 | 무언극 | pantomime |
| 劇場 | 극장 | theater; cinema |
| 劇作家 | 극작가 | playwright; dramatist |
| 詐欺劇 | 사기극 | deception scheme |
Other resources
Image searches
Google
Bing
Yahoo Japan
Baidu (click 图片)
Sogou
Pinterest
Flickr
CJKV
CJKV Dict
Wikitionary
Unihan Database
Korean
Chinese
Written Chinese
Arch Chinese
ZDic
CC-Canto
Chinese Text Project
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (etymology)
Chinese Boost
Japanese
Takoboto
Jisho
JLearn.net
Sakura
The Kanji Map
Sentence Search
Immersion Kit
Vietnamese
Bibliography
Affiliate links help support uK.
— Grant, B.K. (1982). A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja, [s.v. 1455]. Seoul: Hollym.
— Henshall, K.G. (1998). A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, [s.v. 848]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.
— Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters, [s.v. 劇, 刂].
— Seely, C., Henshall, K.G., & Fan, J. (2016). The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Japanese Characters, [s.v. 858]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.