釵

釵 (Kangxi radical 167, 金+3, 11 strokes, cangjie input 金水戈 (CEI), four-corner 8714₀, composition ⿰釒叉)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1297, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 40191
• Dae Jaweon: page 1800, character 18
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4173, character 14
• Unihan data for U+91F5

釵

1. (dated) ornamental forked hairpin

• 鈿／钿 (diàn)

• “Query for 釵”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Hokkien and Mandarin), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.
• “釵”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “钗”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 24.

(Hyōgai kanji)

• Go-on: せ (se)
• Kan-on: さい (sai)
• Kan’yō-on: さ (sa)
• Kun: かんざし (kanzashi)、かざし (kazashi)

From Middle Chinese 釵 (MC tsrhea). Compare modern Mandarin 釵／钗 (chāi, “hairpin; sai (weapon)”).

This character was originally used in Japanese to mean (ornamental) hairpin, and was read with a kun'yomi of kanzashi. The similarity in shape between a hairpin and the weapon called a sai later led to this character being used to refer to the weapon. In modern Japanese, this character is read primarily with its on'yomi of sai, and is used to refer to the weapon. The hairpin sense and kanzashi reading are more often spelled 簪.

• IPA^(key): [sa̠i]

釵(さい) • (sai) 

1. (weaponry) a sai: a short blunt weapon with a wide guard, used mainly for defense against opponents armed with swords

• 十手 (じって, ​jitte)

/kamusaɕi/ → /kanzaɕi/

Originally a compound of 髪 (kamu, “hair, hair of the head”, Old Japanese combining form) +‎ 挿し (sashi, “sticker-through (something that sticks through)”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 挿す sasu “to stick through, to insert”).^[1][2] The sashi changes to zashi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

• 簪, 髪挿, 鈿

• (Tokyo) かんざい [kàńzáí] (Heiban – [0])^[3][2]
• IPA^(key): [kã̠nd͡za̠i]

釵(かんざし) • (kanzashi) 

1. a hairpin, particularly a fancy decorative hairpin used in Japanese women's hairstyles

This sense is more commonly spelled in kanji as 簪 or in kana as かんざし.

May be a sound shift from kanzashi.^[1]

/kanzaɕi/ → /kazaɕi/

Alternately, this may be a compound of 髪 (ka, “hair”, apophonic form of 毛 ke “hair”) +‎ 挿し (sashi, “sticker-through”).^[1]

A folk etymology occasionally encountered is that this as a compound of 花 (ka, “flower”) + 挿し (sashi, “sticker-through”), as many decorative hairpins have floral themes. However, this etymology would mix the Chinese-derived on'yomi of ka and the Old Japanese-derived kun'yomi of sashi, which seems less probable than the above two possibilities.

• 挿頭

• (Tokyo) かざし [kàzáshí] (Heiban – [0])^[3][2]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠za̠ɕi]

釵(かざし) • (kazashi) 

1. (obsolete) an ornamental hairpin (see above)

• 挿頭(かざ)す (kazasu): to stick in one's hair (as for decoration); to add decoration on top of something

釵 • (chae, cha) (hangeul 채, 차, revised chae, cha, McCune–Reischauer ch'ae, ch'a, Yale chay, cha)

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

釵: Hán Nôm readings: thoa, soa, sai

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