減

減 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 水戈竹口 (EIHR), four-corner 3315₀, composition ⿰氵咸)

• 𠽦, 𱨐, 𣼪, 𦺘, 𤁙, 𥳒, 𭒞, 𣾃, 𣚘, 𬐴

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 633, character 42
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17759
• Dae Jaweon: page 1040, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1671, character 7
• Unihan data for U+6E1B

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *krɯːmʔ, *ɡrɯːmʔ): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 咸 (OC *ɡrɯːm, “seal”) - to seal off a stream of water, decreasing its flow. 咸 is the original character of 緘 / 缄 and also serves as a semantic component.

Schuessler (2007) adduces no potential cognates and leaves the origin open. That said, note strong similarities to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-grum (“contracted, stunted, dwarfish”), whence Burmese ကျုံ့ (kyum., “to shrink, contract”).

減

1. to decrease; to subtract; to diminish
2. (arithmetic) to subtract

   Antonym: 加 (jiā)

3. 55th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "diminishment" (𝌼)
4. (chemistry) basic

   Antonym: 酸 (suān)

5. (Cantonese) to sweep (food over to another container)
6. (Hokkien) to be short of

   減一箍／减一箍 [Hokkien]  ―  kiám chi̍t kho͘ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  short of one dollar

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “from etymology 1?”)

減

1. (Cantonese) Used after a verb or adjective to indicate partial attainment of an amount/degree.

   個蛋糕畀啲細路仔食減一大橛。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   个蛋糕畀啲细路仔食减一大橛。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   go³ daan⁶ gou¹ bei² di¹ sai³ lou⁶ zai² sik⁶ gam² jat¹ daai⁶ gyut⁶. [Jyutping]

   The kids ate a big section of the cake.

   次次硬係少減幾個人。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   次次硬系少减几个人。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ci³ ci³ ngaang^6-2 hai⁶ siu² gam² gei² go³ jan⁴. [Jyutping]

   We're missing a few people every single time.

   頭先個頭好痛，瞓完一覺，而家好減啲喇。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   头先个头好痛，𰥛完一觉，而家好减啲喇。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   tau⁴ sin¹ go³ tau⁴ hou² tung³, fan³ jyun⁴ jat¹ gaau³, ji⁴ gaa¹ hou² gam² di¹ laa³. [Jyutping]

   I had a bad headache before. After taking a nap, I feel a bit better.

   • 床上衣服多得嚌拈减張毡去 [Cantonese, trad.]
     床上衣服多得哜拈减张毡去 [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 1841, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, A Chinese Chrestomathy in the Canton Dialect, page 159

     cong⁴ soeng⁶ ji¹ fuk⁶ do¹ dak¹ zai⁶ nim¹ gaam² zoeng¹ zin¹ heoi³ [Jyutping]

     There are too many clothes on the bed, take off a blanket.

   • 1957, 5:17 from the start, in 鬼夜哭 [The Nightly Cry of the Ghost]‎^[1], 謝賢 (actor):

     呢，你同我搦減啲嘢！ [Cantonese, trad.]
     呢，你同我搦减啲嘢！ [Cantonese, simp.]

     ne², nei⁵ tung⁴ ngo⁵ nik¹ gam² di¹ je⁵! [Jyutping]

     Hey, hold some of the stuff for me!

• “減”, 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–

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: けん (ken)、げん (gen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: かん (kan)
• Kun: へる (heru, 減る, Jōyō)、へらす (herasu, 減らす, Jōyō)

減(げん) • (-gen) 

1. reduction

From Middle Chinese 減 (MC keamX). Recorded as Middle Korean 감 (kam) (Yale: kam) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

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

Wikisource

減 (eumhun 덜 감 (deol gam))

1. hanja form^? of 감 (“reduction”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

減: Hán Nôm readings: giảm, dởm, xảm

1. Decrease, reduce, lessen