爛柯

Chinese

		rotten; decayed; well-cooked rotten; decayed; well-cooked; mushy; broken; bad; to decay; completely	handle of axe; stem
trad. (爛柯)		爛	柯
simp. (烂柯)		烂	柯
Literally: “rotten axe handle”.

Etymology

From the story of the woodcutter Wang Zhi (王質) during the Western Jin dynasty. See Ranka (legend) on Wikipedia for more.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): lànkē

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄢˋ ㄎㄜ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: lànkē
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄢˋ ㄎㄜ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: lànke
  - Wade–Giles: lan⁴-kʻo¹
  - Yale: làn-kē
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lannke
  - Palladius: ланькэ (lanʹkɛ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /län⁵¹ kʰɤ⁵⁵/

Middle Chinese: lanH ka

Rime
Character	爛	柯
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	寒 (61)	歌 (94)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	郎旰切	古俄切
Baxter	lanH	ka
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɑn^H/	/kɑ/
Pan Wuyun	/lɑn^H/	/kɑ/
Shao Rongfen	/lɑn^H/	/kɑ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lan^H/	/ka/
Li Rong	/lɑn^H/	/kɑ/
Wang Li	/lɑn^H/	/kɑ/
Bernhard Karlgren	/lɑn^H/	/kɑ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	làn	gē
Expected Cantonese Reflex	laan⁶	go¹

Noun

爛柯

(literary, figurative) fleeting passage of time; unpredictable changes of the world

Derived terms

爛柯亭 / 烂柯亭
爛柯人 / 烂柯人
爛柯仙客 / 烂柯仙客
爛柯山 / 烂柯山
爛柯樵 / 烂柯樵
王質爛柯 / 王质烂柯

Verb

爛柯

(literary, figurative) to play chess