Han character 臈

臈 is a later variant of 臘 with the same meaning. In older Chinese writing, 臘 names a year-end sacrifice and also came to mean the final lunar month and preserved meat. The earliest attestation of 臈 that can be securely dated is the Eastern Han 張遷碑, a stone inscription carved in 186.

The character evolved as a variant rather than being invented for a new meaning: 肉 is its meaning component, while 葛 points to its sound. The Japanese meaning of 臈 depends on context. It can refer to a Buddhist monk’s years after ordination—the formal entry into monastic life—and then to seniority or rank, as in 上臈 and 臈次. In 臈纈, it forms part of a Japanese term for wax-resist dyeing, a technique in which wax blocks dye from parts of cloth; the term came to Japan from mainland Asia.

How do I type 臈?

Use Unicode hex entry when your input method has no candidate. An IME may not list every character; hexadecimal entry lets you enter this one by its Unicode value.

A Han font may draw 臈 differently by locale. If the active font lacks its glyph, an app can show a box or fallback mark; the encoded character is still 臈.