誕
- to give birth, to be born;
- false, untrue;
Etymology
It is a phono-semantic compound, consisting of:
言 (“speech, words”) as the semantic element;
延 (“to extend, to prolong”) as the phonetic element.
Usage in Korean
The character developed two distinct semantic fields:
Birth - “to be born, to give birth,”:
탄생 (誕生) – birth, nativity
성탄 (聖誕) – holy birth, most often Christmas
Falsehood - “to speak falsely,” “to fabricate,” reflecting the idea of words being “extended” beyond truth.
허탄 (虛誕) – absurd, false, groundless
기탄 (忌誕) – reservation, reluctance (lit. avoid + falsehood)
Thus, 誕 combines the sense of coming into being with the figurative sense of words stretched into falsity, making it a character that bridges both creation and deception in meaning.
誕
낳을/거짓
탄
nah-eul/geojit
tan
Kangxi radical:149, 言 + 7
Strokes:14
Unicode:U+8A95
Cangjie input:
- 卜口弓大一 (YRNKM)
Composition:
- ⿰ 訁 延