忼

It expresses intense feeling: indignation, grief, or generous boldness.

The best-known setting is 慷慨, where 忼 is an older variant of 慷. The word can describe impassioned feeling, indignation, lament, or generosity; the sentence determines the shade.

The Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese character dictionary presented in 121 CE, analyzes 忼 as 心, the heart component, plus 亢, the sound component; its gloss is 慨.

Is 忼 the same as 慷?

It is a documented variant, though the written forms differ.

The Ministry of Education’s Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants in Taiwan lists 忼 under 慷. The right-hand sound component differs: 忼 uses 亢, while 慷 uses 康. It also cites 慷 on Han stelae—stone monuments with inscriptions. Older Chinese dictionaries, Yupian, Guangyun, and Jiyun, treat the pair as the same character.

The relationship is historical: in ordinary Chinese writing, 慷慨 is the familiar form. Classical compounds preserve other uses: in 忼龍有悔, 忼 stands for 亢, “high”; 咉忼 means “harsh” or “fierce.”