猿

猿 (radical 94, 犬+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 大竹土口女 (KHGRV), four-corner 4423₂, composition ⿰犭袁)

• KangXi: page 716, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20584
• Dae Jaweon: page 1128, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1361, character 15
• Unihan data for U+733F

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ɢʷan) : semantic 犭 + phonetic 袁 (OC *ɢʷan).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b/g-woj-n (“monkey”).

Alternatively, the root may be Austroasiatic; compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *swaaʔ (“monkey”) (Schuessler, 2007).

猿

1. ape

• 猴 (hóu)

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. monkey

• Go-on: おん (on)
• Kan-on: えん (en, Jōyō)^{←ゑん (wen, historical)}
• Kun: さる (saru, 猿, Jōyō); まし (mashi, 猿); ましら (mashira, 猿ら)
• Nanori: さ (sa); さわ (sawa)

猿 (saru, mashi, mashira): a monkey, specifically a Japanese macaque.

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.

Ultimate derivation possibly borrowed from Ainu サロ (saro, “monkey”, from サㇻ (sar, “a tail”) + オ (o, “to bear, to wear, to carry”)).[1]

The kanji is from Chinese 猿 (“ape”). Compare Japanese 猪 (inoshishi, “boar”) from Chinese 猪 (“pig”) and Japanese 豚 (buta, “pig”) from Chinese 豚 (“suckling pig”).

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) さ​る [sáꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [sa̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

猿 (counter 匹, hiragana さる, katakana サル, rōmaji saru)

1. a monkey (primate)
   • 1079, Konkōmyō Saishōōkyō Ongi (page 10 (back))

     猕猴 二字合訓佐流

2. Short for 日本猿 (Nihonzaru, “Japanese macaque”).
3. (loosely) an ape (animal)
   • 1988 July 30 [Jul 25 1984], Fujiko F. Fujio, “世せ界かい名めい作さく童どう話わ第だい３巻かん うらしま太た郎ろう [World’s Renowned Fairy Tales Book 3: Urashima Tarō]”, in ポストの中の明日 [Post-Mid-Tomorrow] (藤子不二雄少年SF短編集; 2), volume 2 (fiction), 10th edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 117:

     地 (ち)球 (きゅう)は、サルのわく星 (せい)になっていましたとさ。

     Chikyū wa, saru no wakusei ni natte imashita to sa.

     Meanwhile, Earth became the Planet of the Apes.

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as サル.

• → Yami: sazo

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE, used phonetically to spell the sound /masi/.

Ultimate derivation unknown.

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ま​し [máꜜshì] (Atamadaka – [1])[3]
  • IPA^(key): [ma̠ɕi]

猿 (hiragana まし, rōmaji mashi)

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) a monkey

This form seems to be used less often than mashira below.

Derived from earlier mashi form above. Found in texts from the early 1900s, possibly earlier. Appears to be mashi + the pluralizing and genericizing suffix ら (ra).

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ましら [màshírá] (Heiban – [0])[2][3]
  • (Tokyo) ま​しら [máꜜshìrà] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ma̠ɕiɾa̠]

猿 (hiragana ましら, rōmaji mashira)

1. (archaic) a monkey

From Middle Chinese 猿 (MC ɦʉɐn).

The kan'on pronunciation, so likely a later borrowing.

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • IPA^(key): [ẽ̞ɴ]

猿 (hiragana えん, rōmaji en, historical hiragana ゑん)

1. monkey

• Tsukishima, Hiroshi (1079) Kojisho Ongi Shūsei 12: Konkōmyō Saishōōkyō Ongi (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Kyūko Shoin, published 1979, →ISBN.

猿 • (won) (hangeul 원, revised won, McCune–Reischauer wŏn, Yale wen)

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

猿 (viên, vượn, ươi)

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

• Nôm: viên, vượn

• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville