Character: 乾
Modern (Beijing) reading: gān qián
Preclassic Old Chinese: ghar kār
Classic Old Chinese: ghan
Western Han Chinese: ghan
Eastern Han Chinese: ghan
Early Postclassic Chinese: ghen
Middle Postclassic Chinese: ghen
Late Postclassic Chinese: ghen
Middle Chinese: gen kân
English meaning : be creative
Russian meaning[s]: 1) сухой; высушить; досуха; сушение; 2) высохнуть; завянуть; 3) чистый; дочиста, без остатка; 4) только; понапрасну, зря; 5) названый, приемный (отец, брат); 6) прямой и резкий; 7) упрекать; бранить; 8) плохо принять; [qián] 1) первая гексаграмма Ицзина; 2) небо; 3) мужчина, муж; государь; 4) Цянь (фамилия)
Comments: Sch.: 'perhaps: be associated with the forces of Heaven'. OC *ghar is also used as the name for the 1st hexagramm in Yijing ('Heaven'). MC gen is not quite regular in this series (one would rather expect MC gǝn). For *gh- cf. Xiamen khian2, Chaozhou khieŋ2, Fuzhou khieŋ2. Another frequent (and archaic) reading of the character is OC *kār, MC kân [FQ 古寒), Mand. gān 'to be dry' - whence, possibly, Viet. cạn 'dry, shallow; on land, on shore' (although the tone is rather strange and a chance coincidence is not excluded); khan 'hoarse, husky, raucous; anhydrous'. Note that regular Sino-Viet. for MC kân is can.
Radical: 5
Four-angle index: 7788
Karlgren code: 0140 c
Vietnamese reading: [kiê`n]
Jianchuan Bai: [kã4]
Dali Bai: [ka1]
Bijiang Bai: [qa4]
