近

近 (Kangxi radical 162, 辵+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 卜竹一中 (YHML), four-corner 3230₂, composition ⿺辶斤)

• 菦

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1254, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 38752
• Dae Jaweon: page 1736, character 18
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3819, character 12
• Unihan data for U+8FD1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɡɯnʔ, *ɡɯns): semantic 辶 (“walk”) + phonetic 斤 (OC *kɯn, *kɯns) – to be near something.

Karlgren (1933) relates 近 (OC *ɡɯnʔ, *ɡɯns) to 幾 (OC *kɯl, “imminent”).

近 (OC *ɡɯns, “to come near to; to approach”) is the exoactive/causative derivation of 近 (OC *ɡɯnʔ, “to be near”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Compare Proto-Vietic *t-kəɲ, whence Vietnamese gần (“near”).

近

1. (of distances) near; close

   住越近越容易遲到。 [MSC, trad.]
   住越近越容易迟到。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhù yuè jìn yuè róngyì chídào. [Pinyin]

   Those who live closer (to the destination) are more likely to be late.

   我屋企好近學校。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我屋企好近学校。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ uk¹ kei² hou² kan⁵ hok⁶ haau⁶. [Jyutping]

   My home is close to my school.

2. (of time) near; close

   現在離春節越來越近了。 [MSC, trad.]
   现在离春节越来越近了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Xiànzài lí chūnjié yuè lái yuè jìn le. [Pinyin]

   We are now getting closer to the Chinese New Year.

   近呢幾年都冇乜新歌好聽。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   近呢几年都冇乜新歌好听。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   gan⁶ nei¹ gei² nin⁴ dou¹ mou⁵ mat¹ san¹ go¹ hou² teng¹. [Jyutping]

   There have been few good new songs in the past few years.

3. intimate; close (on affectionate terms)

   別跟他走得太近。 [MSC, trad.]
   别跟他走得太近。 [MSC, simp.]

   Bié gēn tā zǒu dé tài jìn. [Pinyin]

   Don't be too close with him.

4. to approach; to be close to

   近千人  ―  jìn qiān rén  ―  nearly one thousand people

   年近四十  ―  nián jìn sìshí  ―  approaching forty

   • 夕陽無限好，只是近黃昏。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 9th century, Li Shangyin, 樂遊原

     Xīyáng wúxiàn hǎo, zhǐshì jìn huánghūn. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

5. easy to understand

   淺近／浅近  ―  qiǎnjìn  ―  easy to understand

6. (Wenzhounese) to make a profit; to earn

• (near; close):

• (intimate):

• “近”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.
• 李如龙 [Li, Ru-long], 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu], 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying], 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019) “近”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 236.

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. near, close

• Go-on: ごん (gon)
• Kan-on: きん (kin, Jōyō)
• Kan’yō-on: こん (kon)
• Kun: ちかい (chikai, 近い, Jōyō)、ちかしい (chikashii, 近しい)、ちかづく (chikazuku, 近づく)、ちかづける (chikazukeru, 近づける)

近(こん) • (Kon) 

1. a surname

近 (eumhun 가까울 근 (gakkaul geun))

1. hanja form^? of 근 (“near; close”)

• 최근 (最近, choegeun, “the most recent”)
• 근처 (近處, geuncheo, “neighborhood; vicinity; the nearby area”)

近: Hán Nôm readings: cận, cặn, gàn, gần

1. chữ Hán form of cận (“close; nearby”)