櫂

櫂 (Kangxi radical 75, 木+14, 18 strokes, cangjie input 木尸一土 (DSMG), four-corner 4791₄, composition ⿰木翟)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 559, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 15756
• Dae Jaweon: page 948, character 26
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1311, character 9
• Unihan data for U+6AC2

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *r'eːwɢs): semantic 木 + phonetic 翟 (OC *r'aːwɢ, *l'eːwɢ).

Earliest extant attestations are in Chu Ci.

Possibly from Austroasiatic. Compare Proto-Vietic *tʃ-r-ɛːw (whence Vietnamese chèo), an *-r- (instrumental derivative) infixed form of Vietnamese *tʃɛːw, whence Modern Vietnamese xeo (“to lift up with a crowbar; to propel (a boat) with a long pole”).

櫂

1. (literary) oar

   • 桂櫂兮蘭枻，斲冰兮積雪。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     桂棹兮兰枻，斲冰兮积雪。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Verses of Chu, 4^th century BCE – 2^nd century CE, translated based on David Hawkes' version

     Guìzhào xī lányì, zhuó bīng xī jī xuě. [Pinyin]

     My cassia oar and orchid sweep chip all in vain at ice and snow.

2. (literary) to row

   • 櫂舟杭以橫濿兮，濟湘流而南極。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     棹舟杭以横𪵱兮，济湘流而南极。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Verses of Chu, 4^th century BCE – 2^nd century CE, translated based on David Hawkes' version

     Zhào zhōuháng yǐ hénglì xī, jì Xiāng liú ér nán jí. [Pinyin]

     I rowed my boat across the river; crossed the Xiang and journeyed to the south.

3. (literary) boat

   • 發戰櫂東下。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     发战棹东下。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1345 CE, Toqto'a (lead editor), History of Song

     Fā zhànzhào dōngxià. [Pinyin]

     The fighting vessels were dispatched eastwards.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

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• Go-on: じょう (jō)^{←でう (deu, historical)}、だく (daku)
• Kan-on: とう (tō)^{←たう (tau, historical)}、たく (taku)
• Kun: かい (kai, 櫂)、かじ (kaji, 櫂)^{←かぢ (kadi, 櫂, historical)}

Attested phonographically in Old Japanese with the pronunciation kai. This word is unique in having adjacent vowels word-medially, a feature generally disallowed in Old Japanese. There are a few theories to explain this, with the most accepted theory being that this is the イ音(おん)便(びん) (i-onbin, “i-euphony”) form of 掻(か)き (kaki, the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “conjunctive form”) of the verb 掻(か)く (kaku, “to scratch”)). Issues with the chronology of that theory (particularly 音(おん)便(びん) (onbin, “euphony”, literally “sound convenience”) only being a common process in later forms of Japanese) have led to other theories, including:

• Bound form *ka- + -i, a suffix for making standalone forms (compare 酒 (sake < sake₂ < *sakai)), but the lack of vowel fusion is unexplained.
• 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei) of a hypothetical 上(かみ)二(に)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”) verb *kayu, i.e. *kayi > kai.^[1]

櫂(かい) • (kai) 

1. oar, paddle

• 櫓(ろ)櫂(かい) (rokai, “sculls and paddles”)

櫂 (eum 도 (do))

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櫂: Hán Nôm readings: trạc, trạo

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