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巫 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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巫 (Kangxi radical 48, 工+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 一人人 (MOO), four-corner 10108, composition ⿻工从)

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 325, character 19
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8728
  • Dae Jaweon: page 629, character 7
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 412, character 8
  • Unihan data for U+5DEB
simp. and trad.
 巫
alternative forms 𢀣
𢍮
𠮎
Old Chinese
巫 *ma
誣 *ma
莁 *ma
鵐 *ma

Pictogram (象形) – originally two pieces of jade crossed over each other as used in ancient shamanistic practices focused around sacrifices.

As an alternative, according to Zou Jingheng (鄒景蘅), they represent two 工 crossed over, hence two tools made of bamboo or yarrow stalks; the original meaning should be partly preserved in 筮.

“shaman; witch”
This word initially referred to spirit medium/shaman of either sex, but eventually female when contrasted with 覡 (OC *ɡeːɡ, “male shaman”). Various hypotheses exist regarding its etymology (Schuessler, 2007):
  1. Cognate with 舞 (OC *maʔ, “to dance”), derived from the original form 無 (OC *ma, “to dance; not to have”), perhaps due to the fact that shamans could engage in ritual dances.
  2. Cognate with 母 (OC *mɯʔ, “female”).
  3. Cognate with འབའ་མོ ('ba' mo, “sorceress”), from Tibetan འབའ་པོ ('ba' po, “magician, sorcerer”).
  4. Cognate with 誣 (OC *ma, “to deceive”).
  5. Victor Mair (1990) and Jao Tsung-I (1990) proposed that this is a loanword from Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁 (maguš) (more at Wikipedia: Magus). (Mair, 1990; Mair, 2012).
Thai หมอ (mɔ̌ɔ, “doctor”) < Proto-Tai *ʰmo:ᴬ (“shaman”) is generally assumed to be a Sino-Tibetan loan (Pittayaporn, 2014). More at Wu (shaman), Magi#In Chinese sources, magus.
“Malay”
Clipping of 巫來由／巫来由 (wūláiyóu), a transcription of Malay Melayu.
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 巫
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		wū
Middle
Chinese 		‹ mju ›
Old
Chinese 		/*C.m(r)[o]/
English magician

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 巫
Reading # 1/1
No. 13062
Phonetic
component 		巫
Rime
group 		魚
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		無
Old
Chinese 		/*ma/

巫

  1. shaman; witch; sorcerer; wizard
  2. witch doctor
  3. (chiefly Malaysia, Singapore) Malay; Melayu; relating to ethnic Malays
    巫統／巫统  ―  wūtǒng  ―  United Malays National Organisation, UMNO
  4. a surname
    巫啟賢／巫启贤  ―  Wū Qǐxián  ―  Eric Moo (Malaysian Chinese singer-songwriter)
  • → English: wu

巫

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

  1. shaman
  2. witch, sorcerer

This is the only kanji added to the jinmeiyō kanji list on 7 January 2015 by the Japanese government; previously classified as hyōgaiji.

Kanji in this term
巫
かんなぎ
Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi
Alternative spelling
覡

/kamunaɡi/ → /kaɴnaɡi/

From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 神 (kamu, “god, spirit”) +‎ 和ぎ (nagi, “calming, calming down”), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 和ぐ (nagu, “to become calm, to become quiet”).[1]

巫(かんなぎ) • (kannagi) 

  1. (archaic) a medium or shaman, usually female, who acts as a medium between humans and the spirits or gods, helping to communicate between the two and to calm any supernatural or spiritual upset
    Synonyms: 巫女 (miko), 神子 (kanko)
Kanji in this term
巫
こうなぎ
Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi
Alternative spelling
覡

/kamunaɡi/ → /kaũnaɡi/ → /kaunaɡi/ → /kɔːnaɡi/ → /koːnaɡi/

Shift in pronunciation of the 神 (kamu) element, similar to the pattern seen in terms such as 神戸 (“Kōbe”).[1]

巫(こうなぎ) • (kōnagi) ←かうなぎ (kaunagi)?

  1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) a medium or shaman, usually female, who acts as a medium between humans and the spirits or gods, helping to communicate between the two and to calm any supernatural or spiritual upset
Kanji in this term
巫
みこ
Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 巫 – see the following entry.
(This term, 巫, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

From Middle Chinese 巫 (MC mju). Recorded as Middle Korean 무 (mwu) (Yale: mwu) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource

巫 (eumhun 무당 무 (mudang mu))

  1. hanja form? of 무 (“shaman; something related to shamanism”)
  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

巫: Hán Việt readings: vu

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