What 玍 means
玍 is a regional character for a difficult or eccentric person. In some varieties it can also describe a naughty child, or someone who is picky, stuffy, forceful, or stingy.
A 2017 national table of dialect characters records meanings ranging from mischievous or bad-tempered to picky, stuffy, or forceful across several local varieties. So 玍古 has no single meaning shared across Chinese-speaking regions.
Where did 玍 come from?
A 2019 study tracing the character’s history locates its earliest examples in Buddhist texts from the Southern Song, a Chinese dynasty, where 玍笤帚 means a worn, bald broom. Yuan-dynasty salt-making records use 柴玍 for stump and root wood gathered as fuel.
The study links the Wu-area stump-and-root sense to 株, a character for a tree stump, and to 山玍, a digging tool. It also argues that 生 in some copied passages is a transmission error for 玍; that claim concerns those historical passages, not every modern use of 生.
What if someone calls me 玍?
Treat it as criticism unless you know the local tone. For a person, 玍 can mean eccentric, difficult, or stingy; for a child, it can be teasingly naughty. It is not a reliable compliment.
A 2015 study of plays from the Ming–Qing dynasties in Minnan (Southern Min, a Chinese language) records 玍 as a taboo term for the male sexual organ. That is a different language and register from the child-related label.
Regional and informal; it can be teasing for a child or cutting toward an adult.
Across dialects, it can shift from “naughty” to a personal insult or a taboo sexual term.
Drift: As of 2024, reference work still catalogs 玍 as a regional-use character with multiple readings.
Who writes 玍
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What it means when someone sends it to you
5 readingsA region-specific criticism: eccentric, bad-tempered, or difficult.
Don't confuse it with
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Related characters
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Combination ideas
3Questions people ask
3Is 玍 rude?
It can be. Some regional uses criticize a person, while a Minnan historical use is taboo. Treat it as potentially offensive unless you know the local context.
Can 玍 mean stingy?
Yes. Some regional references use it for someone stingy or overly picky; that sense is not shared across all Chinese-speaking communities.
Why does an old text use 生 where I expect 玍?
Older copies and later reprints sometimes replaced this rare character with the familiar 生. Editors may restore 玍 when the surrounding wording supports that reading.
More like this
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How to type or find 玍
- Search it as
- gǎ · ga · 玍古 · 玍孩子 · 玍渣子 · eccentric · naughty · stingy
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
玍\738DCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.