麒麟

Chinese
male unicorn female unicorn
simp. and trad.
(麒麟)		 麒 麟
variant forms 騏驎 obsolete
麒麐 obsolete
麒麟 (qilin)

Etymology

Qilin was a propitious beast in ancient Chinese mythology, with the shape of a deer, tail of an ox, a single horn and scales all over its body. Old Chinese pronunciation for this word was *g(ɯ)-rin (Zhengzhang), and in pre-Qin times the beast was also referred to as

  • 麟 (OC *rin),
  • 麐 (OC *m·rin, *m·rins),
  • 𪊓, or
  • 蔽 (OC *peds),

the last two having been attested in the oracle bone script already. This is much debate as to what animal the qilin beast was; some maintain that the qilin was a beast only found in mythology, even though it may have been based on some animal in pre-historic times, and some argue that the qilin was in reality the river deer, the ox or cow, or the Indian rhinoceros (Wang, 2009).

During the Song–Ming Dynasties, the giraffe was introduced to China, either by envoys from other Asian or African countries, or through Zheng He who commanded multiple expeditionary voyages to Asia and Africa (Zhang, 2007). Besides using the transcription 祖剌法 (zǔlàfǎ) (from Arabic زُرَافَة‎ (zurāfa, “giraffe”)) to name the animal, the Chinese also referred to it as qilin, believing it was the prototype of the mythological beast qilin. Such association may be due to the phonological similarity of the words for “giraffe” in North African languages, to the pronunciation of 麒麟 (MC ɡɨ liɪn) at the time (i.e. a phono-semantic matching) (Zhang, 2007). Compare:

Somali geri (“giraffe”), Sango kôlo, Amharic ቀጭኔ (ḳäč̣ne), Kazakh керік (kerik), Mursi kirin[1] and Arabic زَرَافَة‎ (zarāfa), زُرَافَة‎ (zurāfa) (whence English giraffe).

The “giraffe” sense of 麒麟 is obsolete in modern Chinese, but is preserved in the Sinoxenic loanwords in Japanese (麒 (き)麟 (りん) (kirin)) and Korean (기린). In modern Vietnamese (kì lân), this word refers to the beast qilin, as well as the western mythological beast unicorn.

Pronunciation
Rime
Character 麒 麟
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial (聲) 群 (30) 來 (37)
Final (韻) 之 (19) 眞 (43)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) III III
Fanqie 渠之切 力珍切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ɡɨ/ /liɪn/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ɡɨ/ /lin/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ɡie/ /ljen/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /gɨ/ /lin/
Li
Rong		 /ɡiə/ /liĕn/
Wang
Li		 /ɡĭə/ /lĭĕn/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /gi/ /li̯ĕn/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 qí lín
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 麒 麟
Reading # 1/1 1/1
No. 9956 8201
Phonetic
component		 其 粦
Rime
group		 之 眞
Rime
subdivision		 0 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 其 㷠
Old
Chinese		 /*ɡɯ/ /*rin/

Noun

麒麟

  1. (Chinese mythology) qilin (propitious mythological beast) (Classifier: 隻／只)
  2. (figuratively, literary) outstanding person; man of ability
  3. (obsolete) giraffe (ruminant of the genus Giraffa)

Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 長頸鹿 (“giraffe”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 長頸鹿
Taxonomic name 長頸鹿
Mandarin Beijing 長頸鹿
Taiwan 長頸鹿
Ürümqi 長脖兒鹿
Cantonese Hong Kong 長頸鹿
Hakka Miaoli (N. Sixian) 長頸鹿
Liudui (S. Sixian) 長頸鹿
Hsinchu (Hailu) 長頸鹿
Dongshi (Dabu) 長頸鹿
Hsinchu (Raoping) 長頸鹿
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 長頸鹿
Min Nan Xiamen 長頸鹿
Taipei 長頭鹿
Kaohsiung 麒麟仔
Tainan 長頷鹿
Taichung 麒麟
Wuqi 麒麟鹿
Hsinchu 長頷鹿
Taitung 長頷鹿
Lukang 麒麟鹿
Yilan 躼跤鹿仔, 長頷鹿
Magong 長頷鹿
Penang 麒麟鹿, 長頸鹿
Singapore 麒麟鹿, 長跤鹿, 長頸鹿

Derived terms
  • 麒麟殿
  • 麒麟童
  • 麒麟送子
  • 麒麟閣／麒麟阁
  • 麒麟陣／麒麟阵
  • 麒麟鹿

Descendants
Sino-Xenic (麒麟):

Proper noun

麒麟

  1. (～區) Qilin District (district in Qujing, Yunnan province, China)
  2. (～鎮) Qilin (a town in Zongyang, Tongling, Anhui, China)

References
  1. David Turton, Mozes Yigezu, Oilsarali Olibui, Mursi-English-Amharic Dictionary, 2009

Japanese
麒麟 (kirin): the statue of a qilin, also known as the Chinese unicorn.
麒麟 (kirin): a giraffe.
Kanji in this term
麒 麟
き
Jinmeiyō		 りん
Jinmeiyō
on’yomi

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 麒麟 (MC ɡɨ liɪn).

Pronunciation

Noun

麒麟 (hiragana きりん, katakana キリン, rōmaji kirin)

  1. (mythology, Chinese mythology) a qilin
    • 2010 May 23, Aoyama, Gosho, “ＦＩＬＥファイル.５　青せい龍りゅう [FILE.5 Azure Dragon]”, in 名めい探たん偵ていコナン [Legendary Detective Conan], volume 68 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN:
      それは動 (どう)物 (ぶつ)のキリン！問 (もん)題 (だい)の麒 (き)麟 (りん)は…全 (ぜん)身 (しん)が黄 (き)色 (いろ)い鱗 (うろこ)で覆 (おお)われていて、姿 (すがた)は鹿 (しか)、牛 (うし)の尾 (お)と馬 (うま)の蹄 (ひづめ)を持 (も)ち、龍 (りゅう)に似 (に)た頭 (あたま)から１本 (ぽん)角 (つの)が生 (は)えてる…中 (ちゅう)国 (ごく)の伝 (でん)説 (せつ)上 (じょう)の神 (しん)獣 (じゅう)だよ！
      Sore wa dōbutsu no kirin! Mondai no kirin wa… Zenshin ga kiiroi uroko de ōwarete ite, sugata wa shika, ushi no o to uma no hizume o mochi, ryū ni nita atama kara ippon tsuno ga haete ru… Chūgoku no densetsu jō no shinjū da yo!
      That’s giraffekirin the animal! The qilinkirin we’re talking about… has a deer-like body covered in golden scales, with a cow’s tail and a horse’s hooves, and with a single horn growing from its dragon-ish head… It’s a mythical beast from Chinese legends!
  2. (shogi) the kirin, a piece in chūshōgi and larger shogi variants
  3. a giraffe (mammal)
    • 2010 May 23, Aoyama, Gosho, “ＦＩＬＥファイル.５　青せい龍りゅう [FILE.5 Azure Dragon]”, in 名めい探たん偵ていコナン [Legendary Detective Conan], volume 68 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN:
      それは動 (どう)物 (ぶつ)のキリン！問 (もん)題 (だい)の麒 (き)麟 (りん)は…全 (ぜん)身 (しん)が黄 (き)色 (いろ)い鱗 (うろこ)で覆 (おお)われていて、姿 (すがた)は鹿 (しか)、牛 (うし)の尾 (お)と馬 (うま)の蹄 (ひづめ)を持 (も)ち、龍 (りゅう)に似 (に)た頭 (あたま)から１本 (ぽん)角 (つの)が生 (は)えてる…中 (ちゅう)国 (ごく)の伝 (でん)説 (せつ)上 (じょう)の神 (しん)獣 (じゅう)だよ！
      Sore wa dōbutsu no kirin! Mondai no kirin wa… Zenshin ga kiiroi uroko de ōwarete ite, sugata wa shika, ushi no o to uma no hizume o mochi, ryū ni nita atama kara ippon tsuno ga haete ru… Chūgoku no densetsu jō no shinjū da yo!
      That’s giraffekirin the animal! The qilinkirin we’re talking about… has a deer-like body covered in golden scales, with a cow’s tail and a horse’s hooves, and with a single horn growing from its dragon-ish head… It’s a mythical beast from Chinese legends!

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

Derived terms
Derived terms

Proper noun

麒麟 (hiragana きりん, katakana キリン, rōmaji Kirin)

  1. a brand of beer

References
  1. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean
Hanja in this term
麒麟

Noun

麒麟 • (girin, McCune-Reischauer: kirin, Yale: kilin) (hangeul 기린)

  1. Hanja form? of 기린 (“giraffe; qilin”).

Vietnamese
Hán tự in this word
麒麟

Noun

麒麟

  1. Hán tự form of kì lân (“qilin”).
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