夢

Originates as a pictograph.

Early oracle bone forms show a person (人) lying on a bed (爿), with closed or covered eyes (目 / 眉), representing sleep.

Later forms added 夕 (night, evening) to emphasize the time of dreaming.

Thus the character conveys the image of “a sleeping person at night.”

Semantic range:

- dream (in sleep);

- vision, illusion, fantasy;

- by extension, aspiration, ideal.

길몽 (吉夢) — auspicious dream

악몽 (惡夢) — nightmare

몽유병 (夢遊病) — sleepwalking

몽환 (夢幻) — illusion, phantasm

자각몽 (自覺夢) — lucid dream

일장춘몽 (一場春夢) — “a spring dream” (metaphor for fleetingness of life)

동상이몽 (同床異夢) — “same bed, different dreams” (different aims despite shared situation)

호접지몽 (蝴蝶之夢) — “the butterfly dream” of Zhuangzi

남가일몽 (南柯一夢) — “a dream under the southern branch,” metaphor for transient glory

Dreams are a profound metaphor in East Asian thought.

In Daoism, Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream questions the boundary between reality and illusion, self and other.

In Confucianism and later literature, expressions like 일장춘몽 emphasize the transience of worldly glory.

In Buddhism, 몽환(夢幻) conveys the illusory nature of existence — life itself likened to a dream.

儚, 㙹, 懜, 䑅, 䙦, 鄸, 顭, 㝱

Simplified form in China: 梦. Variant forms include 夣, 㒱 (Korean-made character), and 㝱.