銓

Originally referred to weighing metals on a scale, later extended metaphorically to weighing or evaluating people’s ability or merit — hence the sense “to examine and select for office.”

Phono-semantic compound:

金 (쇠 금) — semantic component, indicates metal, weight, or measurement.

全 (온전할 전) — phonetic component, provides the sound quán / jeon and conveys the idea of wholeness or completeness.

Thus 金 + 全 → 銓 — “to weigh metal accurately,” hence to measure, judge, or assess precisely.

In Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「銓，權金也。从金，全聲。」

“銓 means to weigh metal; composed of 金 and phonetic 全.”

The meaning broadened from physical weighing to moral and bureaucratic assessment, a metaphor common in Chinese political vocabulary from the Han dynasty onward.

In Korean historical and administrative terminology, 銓 was used in the compound 銓考 (전고) to mean civil service examination or personnel review.

銓衡 (전형) — selection, screening; literally “weighing and balancing”

銓考 (전고) — personnel examination; civil service evaluation

銓官 (전관) — official in charge of appointments

銓曹 (전조) — the bureau of appointments within the Ministry of Personnel (吏曹)

銓郞 (전랑) — clerk or officer of the appointment bureau (notably 이조전랑, official of the Ministry of Personnel)

銓補 (전보) — appointment or reassignment to office

銓選 (전선) — selection for official post

銓注 (전주) — notation of official ranking or selection record

銓政 (전정) — personnel administration; policy of appointments

Kangxi Dictionary (康熙字典, vol. 1275):

「銓，權也，量也。凡權量皆曰銓。又考試人才曰銓衡。」

“銓 means weighing or measuring; any act of measurement is called 銓. To test and select talents is called 銓衡.”

In Confucian administrative culture, 銓 represented the ethical ideal of weighing virtue and talent as one would balance gold — the fair assessment of worth.

Book of Han (漢書 · 百官志):

「以銓量百官之才。」

“To weigh and measure the talents of all officials.” — one of the earliest uses of 銓 in the sense of administrative evaluation.

Tang Code (唐六典):

「吏部掌銓衡百官。」

“The Ministry of Personnel manages the weighing and balancing (銓衡) of all officials.”

Book of Han (宋史 · 百官志):

「有銓考之法，以定仕進。」

“There was a system of 銓考 — evaluating officials to determine promotion.”

In Joseon dynasty Korea, 銓 was a key bureaucratic term within the Ministry of Personnel (이조 吏曹):

銓曹 (전조) — bureau of official appointments

銓郞 (전랑) — junior appointment officer

銓考所 (전고소) — examination office for officials

銓官 (전관) — official overseeing civil service appointments

文官銓考所 — office for examination of civil officials

These institutions collectively managed the 전형(銓衡) — the process of selecting and evaluating public officials.

The idiom 銓衡之任 (“the duty of weighing and balancing”) became synonymous with merit-based appointment, representing fairness and administrative order.

From imperial China to the Korean Joseon court, 銓 evolved into the vocabulary of civil governance (銓衡, 銓考, 銓官, 銓曹) — the institutional embodiment of just and balanced appointment.