戦

Japanese shinjitai, simplified from 戰 (單 → 単).

戦 (radical 62, 戈+9, 13 strokes, cangjie input 火十戈 (FJI), four-corner 9345₀, composition ⿰単戈)

• KangXi: not present, would follow page 413, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 11631
• Dae Jaweon: page 756, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian: not present, would follow volume 2, page 1409, character 4
• Unihan data for U+6226

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 戰)

1. war, battle
2. match

• Go-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kun: いくさ (ikusa, 戦, Jōyō); たたかい (tatakai, 戦い)^{←たたかひ (tatakafi, historical)}; たたかう (tatakau, 戦う, Jōyō)^{←たたかふ (tatakafu, historical)}; おののき (ononoki, 戦き)^{←をののき (wononoki, historical)}; おののく (ononoku, 戦く)^{←をののく (wononoku, historical)}; そよぎ (soyogi, 戦ぎ); そよぐ (soyogu, 戦ぐ); そよがす (soyogasu, 戦がす); わななく (wananaku, 戦く)

From Old Japanese, first attested in the Kojiki (712 CE) with the original sense of "soldier".

Considered to derive from a compound, possibly either 的 (ancient ikupa, modern rendering ikuha, “target”) + 矢 (sa, “arrow”), or いくふ (ancient ikupu, modern rendering ikuu, “to shoot (an arrow)”) + 矢 (sa, “arrow”). Notably, the iku in both proposed etyma appear to be cognate.[1]

The "archery" sense came later in the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), then was extended to mean "an exchange of arrows" → "a battle".

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) いくさ​ [ìkúsáꜜ] (Odaka – [3])[2][3][4]
  • (Tokyo) いくさ [ìkúsá] (Heiban – [0])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ikɯ̟ᵝsa̠]

• 軍

戦 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai kanji 戰, hiragana いくさ, rōmaji ikusa)

1. (archaic) a battle or war

   Synonyms: 合戦 (gassen), 攻戦 (kōsen), 戦争 (sensō), 戦い (tatakai)

2. (archaic) a soldier or warrior
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 6, poem 972), text here

     千 (ち)萬 (よろづ)乃 (の)軍 (いくさ)奈 (な)利 (り)友 (とも)言擧 (ことあげ)不 (せ)為 (ず)取 (とり)而 (て)可来 (きぬべき)男 (をのこ)常 (と)曽 (ぞ)念 (おもふ) [Man'yōgana]

     千 (ち)万 (よろづ)の軍 (いくさ)なりとも言 (こと)挙 (あ)げせず取 (と)りて来 (き)ぬべき男 (をのこ)とぞ思 (おも)ふ [Modern spelling]

     chiyorozu no ikusa nari to mo kotoage sezu torite kinu beki onoko to zo omou

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   Synonyms: 軍勢 (gunzei), 兵士 (heishi), 兵隊 (heitai)

3. archery
   • 720, Nihon Shoki (chapter 30)

     [...]　築 (＊)習 (＊)射 (＊)所 (＊)。 [Man'yōgana]

     [...]　射 (いくさ)習 (なら)ふ所 (と)を築 (きづ)かしむ。 [Modern spelling]

     ...ikusa narau-to o kizukashimu.

     ...an archery range has been built.

   Synonyms: 弓術 (kyūjutsu), 射 (sha), 射芸 (shagei), 射術 (shajutsu)

• 戦 (いくさ)を見 (み)て矢 (や)を矧 (は)ぐ (ikusa o mite ya o hagu, literally "watch a battle, fletch an arrow")

From Middle Chinese 戰 (MC t͡ɕiᴇn^H).

戦 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai kanji 戰, hiragana せん, rōmaji -sen)

1. match, competition (in sports, etc.)

戦

• Kun: たたﾟーか゚ん (戦ん, thataakan)

• IPA^(key): /tʰataːkaŋ/

戦 (hiragana たたﾟーか゚ん, romaji thataakan)

1. to fight

戦

• Kun: たたかゆん (戦ゆん, tatakayun)

• IPA^(key): /tatakajuŋ/

戦 (hiragana たたかゆん, romaji tatakayun)

1. to fight