朕

朕 (Kangxi radical 74, 月+6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 月廿大 (BTK), four-corner 7823₄, composition ⿰月关)

• 𠹻, 㴨, 㮳, 𨃵, 𨫇, 𣞅, 勝, 塍, 螣, 縢, 𠗲, 滕, 黱, 騰, 幐, 賸, 榺, 謄

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 505, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14361
• Dae Jaweon: page 884, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2071, character 5
• Unihan data for U+6715

Simplified from 𦩎 (舟 → 月 and 灷 → 关), corruption of an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 舟 (“boat”) + 丨 (“item”) + 廾 (“two hands”), seen in the oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, originally meaning “to mend a boat”. It was later borrowed phonetically to be used as an honorific first-person pronoun.

朕

1. (obsolete, original meaning) seam; crack; fissure (originally of a boat, later also of armor)

   • 眡其朕，欲其直也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     视其朕，欲其直也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Rites of Zhou, circa 3^rd century BCE

     Shì qí zhèn, yù qí zhí yě. [Pinyin]

     Look at the seams [of the armor]; they should be straight.

   • 朕，舟縫也。……本訓舟縫，引伸為凡縫之稱。 [MSC, trad.]
     朕，舟缝也。……本训舟缝，引伸为凡缝之称。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: Shuowen (Duan Yucai annotation)

     Zhèn, zhōu féng yě....... Běn xùn zhōu féng, yǐnshēn wèi fán féng zhī chēng. [Pinyin]

     Zhen means the seams of a boat... Originally meaning boat seams, it extended to refer to any seam.

2. (literary) omen; sign; portent (subtle signs before an event occurs; incipient state)

   • 體盡無窮，而遊無朕。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     体尽无穷，而游无朕。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Tǐ jìn wúqióng, ér yóu wú zhèn. [Pinyin]

     His substance is infinite, and he wanders in the pathless (sign-less/trace-less).

   • 鴻災起無朕。 [MSC, trad.]
     鸿灾起无朕。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: Lü Wen (Tang Dynasty)

     Hóng zāi qǐ wú zhèn. [Pinyin]

     Great disasters arise without warning signs.

3. (archaic) I; me; my (general first-person pronoun used by anyone regardless of status, pre-Qin Dynasty)

   • 朕皇考曰伯庸。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

     From: Lisao

     Zhèn huángkǎo yuē Bóyōng. [Pinyin]

     My deceased father was named Boyong.

   • 爾無不信，朕不食言。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     尔无不信，朕不食言。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE

     Ěr wú bù xìn, zhèn bù shíyán. [Pinyin]

     On no account disbelieve me - **I** will not go back on my word.

4. (imperial) I; my; We (reserved for use by the emperor or empress dowager since the Qin Dynasty)

   • 天子自稱曰朕。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     天子自称曰朕。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Tiānzǐ zìchēng yuē zhèn. [Pinyin]

     The Son of Heaven refers to himself as Zhen.

   • 皇太后詔有司曰：『……春秋六十，未見皇孫，食不甘味，寢不安席，朕甚悼焉。』 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     皇太后诏有司曰：『……春秋六十，未见皇孙，食不甘味，寝不安席，朕甚悼焉。』 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Han, circa 1^st century CE

     Huángtàihòu zhào yǒusī yuē: ‘...... Chūnqiū liùshí, wèi jiàn huángsūn, shí bù gānwèi, qǐn bù ānxí, zhèn shèn dào yān.’ [Pinyin]

     The Empress Dowager issued an edict to the officials: "...I am sixty years old, yet have seen no imperial grandson... I grieve greatly over this."

5. (Cantonese) alternative form of 𠹻 (zam6, “classifier for smells”)

• In modern Chinese slang, sense 4 may sometimes be used ironically and humorously to refer to oneself.

• 许锦晶 [Xu, Jinjing] (2017), “人称代词“朕”源头考察 [Probe into the Origin of Personal Pronoun “朕” (zhèn)]”, in Sinologia Hispanica, China Studies Review‎^[1]
• “朕”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “朕”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2026.
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “朕”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 307.

(Jōyō kanji)

1. (imperial) I (similar to the royal we)

• Go-on: じん (jin)^{←じん (zin, historical)←ぢむ (dimu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: ちん (chin, Jōyō)^{←ちん (tin, historical)←ちむ (timu, ancient)}
• Kun: きざし (kizashi, 朕し)、わが (waga, 朕が)、われ (ware, 朕)、われ (ware, 朕れ)

• (Tokyo) ちん [chíꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕĩɴ]

朕(ちん) • (chin) 

1. (imperial) I, me (similar to the royal we)

   朕(ちん)は国家(こっか)なり

   Chin wa kokka nari

   I am the state.

   • 1945 August 15, Emperor Shōwa, 大東亜戦争終結ノ詔書 [Gyokuon-hōsō]:

     朕(チン)深(フカ)ク世(セ)界(カイ)ノ大(タイ)勢(セイ)ト帝(テイ)國(コク)ノ現(ゲン)狀(ジョウ)トニ鑑(カンガ)ミ非(ヒ)常(ジョウ)ノ措(ソ)置(チ)ヲ以(モッ)テ時(ジ)局(キョク)ヲ收(シュウ)拾(シュウ)セムト欲(ホッ)シ茲(ココ)ニ忠(チュウ)良(リョウ)ナル爾(ナンジ)臣(シン)民(ミン)ニ告(ツ)グ

     Chin fukaku sekai no taisei to teikoku no genjō to ni kangami hijō no sochi o motte jikyoku o shūshū semu to hosshi koko ni chūryō naru nanji shinmin ni tsugu

     To our good and loyal subjects, after pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining in our empire today, we have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure.

After the Second World War, this pronoun has fallen out of use. Since then, the emperors of Japan refer to themselves with the pronoun 私(わたくし) (watakushi).

• “^△朕”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[3] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

From Middle Chinese 朕 (MC drimX). Recorded as Middle Korean 띰〯 (Yale: ttǐm) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi(ː)m]
• Phonetic hangul: [짐(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

朕 (eumhun 나 짐 (na jim))

1. (imperial) hanja form^? of 짐 (“I; me”) (similar to the royal we)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [4]

朕: Hán Việt readings: trẫm
朕: Nôm readings: trũm, chũm

1. (imperial) chữ Hán form of trẫm (“I; me”) (similar to the royal we)