<p>I believe that  is a mistake in transcription for 觥 (gong1) because they could look very similar in cursive script. 觥 means drinking vessel and 觥船 means a big drinking vessel, see, e.g., <a href="http://www.zdic.net/c/5/f0/248556.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.zdic.net/c/5/f0/248556.htm</a> .</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-10T03:26:28.813Z
many thanks - i got caught up pursuing some complicated idea about boats and never thought to look at the alternate possibility.  well, it was a fun chance to chat about poetry.:)
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-10T03:24:18.073Z
2014-12-10T03:24:18.073Z
user58955
<p>I asked around in my college today. The teachers had no idea, but a student just used his mobile. </p>

<p>It is gong, first tone, and means 'a bronze drinking vessel'</p>

<p>Got this from <a href="http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/47075-hard-to-find-character/" rel="nofollow">http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/47075-hard-to-find-character/</a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_n%C3%B4m" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_n%C3%B4m</a></p>

<p>It is a Chữ Nôm meaning 'module' or 'box' (maritime), according to Sky Darmos. He offered these example compounds:</p>

<p>～船 khoang tuyền – deck (ship)</p>

<p>～梩 khoang lái – cockpit</p>

<p>～航 khoang hàng – hold (in a ship)</p>

<p>～行李 khoang hành lý – hold (in a plane)</p>

<p>From what I know, this character does not exist in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T12:03:59.353Z
Wrong. See comments below the question.
Wang Dingwei
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T23:13:40.073Z
Haha, well that's what his dictionary very clearly stated. Do we really have a situation where Chinese people don't know the meaning or sound of a Chinese character? Certainly, the teachers in my college did not know, but one will get back to me today. See what she says.
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-10T01:37:57.943Z
Apparently baidu says it is mo4 and it is from Vietnam.But baidu doesn't seem to say what it means.
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-12T04:18:31.090Z
zdic used to say mo4 but has subsequently removed this pronunciation from it's entry, leaving no pronunciation whatsoever.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T09:32:05.617Z
2014-12-10T13:43:37.220Z
2014-12-10T13:43:37.220Z
Pedroski
<p>For browsers unable to display that code point (U+26A3B) as anything other than a box, the question concerns this character: </p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RYunR.png" alt="funky character"></p>

<p>Per <a href="http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&amp;char=%F0%A6%A8%BB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&amp;char=%F0%A6%A8%BB</a> - there are quite a few instances of the character's use in poetry since the Yuan Dynasty, and it occurs at least as late as the early Qing Dynasty in the lyrics of Gu Zhenguan (how I got started with it):</p>

<p>縱閒愁吹墜，不到船。</p>

<p>The character is not included in the Kangxi Dictionary, and I wonder whether any definition is available beyond "a kind of boat".  In some of the examples (e.g. 银夜酌凉蒲萄，琵琶嘈嘈急如泻) it doesn't seem to be a boat at all, perhaps an obscure variant of some other character meaning "drinking vessel"?  </p>

<p>I don't know much about scansion of Chinese poetry but am guessing at least it is going to be 3rd/4th tone given its location in the phrases of the cited poetry. A Japanese site (<a href="http://jigen.net/kanji/158267" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://jigen.net/kanji/158267</a>) suggests the rather dubious reading of "mò" (I'm assuming that's Pinyin and not some transcription system specific to Japanese) while apparently it is read "khoang" in Vietnamese (<a href="http://www.cojak.org/index.php?function=code_lookup&amp;term=26A3B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.cojak.org/index.php?function=code_lookup&amp;term=26A3B</a>).  It seems odd for the character to have such a vague existence: does anyone know how it was pronounced  classically (i.e. what is the 反切) and/or have a reasonably informative gloss?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-08T02:34:50.527Z
I agree with you on the 银. 1) The whole poem was describing a study room. 2) The following verse talked about hearing rooster calls in the room and seeing flowers outside the door. If that's case, 银 is possibly an error in handwriting. When you write cursive  and 觥 would look quite similar.
Wang Dingwei
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-08T02:35:31.473Z
Not in *中华字海* either...
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-08T02:48:43.207Z
Maybe *hang*: 同樣，根據“吃語詩”全詩用同一字母的特點，我們也可考訂《苕溪漁隱叢話》的版本校勘問題。如關於東坡吃語詩中“孤航繫舸菰茭隔”之“航”字，廖德明校點曰：“舊鈔本‘航’作‘舟光’（左舟右光）。”《辭源》“航”字頭下注曰：“hanɡ 胡郎切，平，唐韻，匣。”可見“航”是匣母字，與其他見母字不同。而“舟光”雖是僻字，不見於《漢語大字典》、《辭源》等工具書，但據其右文“光”字的讀音（《辭源》光字頭下注：“ɡuānɡ 古黃切，平，唐韻，見。），可推知也屬見母。此外,“顧影”的“影”字，恐怕也有誤，當作“景”。因為“影”字屬影母，“景”字才屬見母。
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-08T02:50:12.803Z
According to the rhymes of the example verses in your first link, mò(which indeed is pinyin) is quite unlikely. It's more possible that it is 平声, something similar to the first or second tone in Mandarin.
Wang Dingwei
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-08T04:48:47.270Z
Also, like Wang Dingwei sort of mentioned, I'm seeing **“舟光”是“觥”的讹字。** in a few places in which case it would be gōng...(?)
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-08T07:40:59.140Z
In Unicode website, this caracter is said to be taken from a Vietnam standard ... http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=%F0%A6%A8%BB
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-08T23:16:19.840Z
@user3306356 - thank you for the enlightening quote.  That line is "篙竿繫舸菰茭隔" in my edition of Su Shi's poetry (《蘇軾詩集合注》·卷二十:“西山戲題武昌王居士” - same as the 四庫全書 edition) and there is no note of an alternate reading with the strange character; however that there *is* such an alternate version is a good hint at the classical pronunciation. Thanks to Mr. Wang's reminder of the character 觥 (which I couldn't quite remember) I do believe the most likely pronunciation is gong1.  I will have to ask a Vietnamese friend about what it means: perhaps such boats still exist in Vietnam when they don't in China.:)
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T19:42:20.320Z
Could you update the question w/an image? The character's uncommon enough that it's being rendered as a box in my browser.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T23:13:10.747Z
@StumpyJoePete : apologies, I didn't realize that was a problem until I checked the page earlier from work.  Should be fixed now.  Thanks for pointing it out.
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T23:36:55.560Z
@MasterSparkles 觥 is gong1 indeed, as in 觥筹交错. And it doesn't mean boat but vessel (drinkware).
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T23:51:40.767Z
@user58955 right I'm not disputing that- but I'm not convinced that the weird character is always just a variant for 觥, since the variant reading doesn't make sense for some examples including the Gu Zhenguan verse and more importantly the Su Shi poem noted in the quote above.
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-10T02:02:41.497Z
@MasterSparkles It means also drinking vessel in your quote above. 觥船 is an established word. See, e.g., http://www.zdic.net/c/5/f0/248556.htm
user58955
<pronunciation><poetry>
How Does One Pronounce/Define the *Chinese* Character 
# How Does One Pronounce/Define the *Chinese* Character 

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-08)

For browsers unable to display that code point (U+26A3B) as anything other than a box, the question concerns this character:

![funky character](https://i.sstatic.net/RYunR.png)

Per <http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&char=%F0%A6%A8%BB> - there are quite a few instances of the character's use in poetry since the Yuan Dynasty, and it occurs at least as late as the early Qing Dynasty in the lyrics of Gu Zhenguan (how I got started with it):

縱閒愁吹墜，不到船。

The character is not included in the Kangxi Dictionary, and I wonder whether any definition is available beyond "a kind of boat". In some of the examples (e.g. 银夜酌凉蒲萄，琵琶嘈嘈急如泻) it doesn't seem to be a boat at all, perhaps an obscure variant of some other character meaning "drinking vessel"?

I don't know much about scansion of Chinese poetry but am guessing at least it is going to be 3rd/4th tone given its location in the phrases of the cited poetry. A Japanese site (<http://jigen.net/kanji/158267>) suggests the rather dubious reading of "mò" (I'm assuming that's Pinyin and not some transcription system specific to Japanese) while apparently it is read "khoang" in Vietnamese (<http://www.cojak.org/index.php?function=code_lookup&term=26A3B>). It seems odd for the character to have such a vague existence: does anyone know how it was pronounced classically (i.e. what is the 反切) and/or have a reasonably informative gloss?

**Tags:** pronunciation, poetry

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I agree with you on the 银. 1) The whole poem was describing a study room. 2) The following verse talked about hearing rooster calls in the room and seeing flowers outside the door. If that's case, 银 is possibly an error in handwriting. When you write cursive  and 觥 would look quite similar.  
> **username_2**: Not in *中华字海* either...  
> **username_2**: Maybe *hang*: 同樣，根據“吃語詩”全詩用同一字母的特點，我們也可考訂《苕溪漁隱叢話》的版本校勘問題。如關於東坡吃語詩中“孤航繫舸菰茭隔”之“航”字，廖德明校點曰：“舊鈔本‘航’作‘舟光’（左舟右光）。”《辭源》“航”字頭下注曰：“hanɡ 胡郎切，平，唐韻，匣。”可見“航”是匣母字，與其他見母字不同。而“舟光”雖是僻字，不見於《漢語大字典》、《辭源》等工具書，但據其右文“光”字的讀音（《辭源》光字頭下注：“ɡuānɡ 古黃切，平，唐韻，見。），可推知也屬見母。此外,“顧影”的“影”字，恐怕也有誤，當作“景”。因為“影”字屬影母，“景”字才屬見母。  
> **username_1**: According to the rhymes of the example verses in your first link, mò(which indeed is pinyin) is quite unlikely. It's more possible that it is 平声, something similar to the first or second tone in Mandarin.  
> **username_2**: Also, like username_1 sort of mentioned, I'm seeing **“舟光”是“觥”的讹字。** in a few places in which case it would be gōng...(?)  
> **username_3**: In Unicode website, this caracter is said to be taken from a Vietnam standard ... http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=%F0%A6%A8%BB  
> **username_0**: @user3306356 - thank you for the enlightening quote.  That line is "篙竿繫舸菰茭隔" in my edition of Su Shi's poetry (《蘇軾詩集合注》·卷二十:“西山戲題武昌王居士” - same as the 四庫全書 edition) and there is no note of an alternate reading with the strange character; however that there *is* such an alternate version is a good hint at the classical pronunciation. Thanks to Mr. Wang's reminder of the character 觥 (which I couldn't quite remember) I do believe the most likely pronunciation is gong1.  I will have to ask a Vietnamese friend about what it means: perhaps such boats still exist in Vietnam when they don't in China.:)  
> **username_4**: Could you update the question w/an image? The character's uncommon enough that it's being rendered as a box in my browser.  
> **username_0**: @StumpyJoePete : apologies, I didn't realize that was a problem until I checked the page earlier from work.  Should be fixed now.  Thanks for pointing it out.  
> **username_5**: @MasterSparkles 觥 is gong1 indeed, as in 觥筹交错. And it doesn't mean boat but vessel (drinkware).  
> **username_0**: @username_5 right I'm not disputing that- but I'm not convinced that the weird character is always just a variant for 觥, since the variant reading doesn't make sense for some examples including the Gu Zhenguan verse and more importantly the Su Shi poem noted in the quote above.  
> **username_5**: @MasterSparkles It means also drinking vessel in your quote above. 觥船 is an established word. See, e.g., http://www.zdic.net/c/5/f0/248556.htm  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-12-10. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

I believe that is a mistake in transcription for 觥 (gong1) because they could look very similar in cursive script. 觥 means drinking vessel and 觥船 means a big drinking vessel, see, e.g., <http://www.zdic.net/c/5/f0/248556.htm> .

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: many thanks - i got caught up pursuing some complicated idea about boats and never thought to look at the alternate possibility.  well, it was a fun chance to chat about poetry.:)  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2014-12-09. Score: -2

I asked around in my college today. The teachers had no idea, but a student just used his mobile.

It is gong, first tone, and means 'a bronze drinking vessel'

Got this from <http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/47075-hard-to-find-character/>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_n%C3%B4m>

It is a Chữ Nôm meaning 'module' or 'box' (maritime), according to Sky Darmos. He offered these example compounds:

～船 khoang tuyền – deck (ship)

～梩 khoang lái – cockpit

～航 khoang hàng – hold (in a ship)

～行李 khoang hành lý – hold (in a plane)

From what I know, this character does not exist in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Wrong. See comments below the question.  
> **username_6**: Haha, well that's what his dictionary very clearly stated. Do we really have a situation where Chinese people don't know the meaning or sound of a Chinese character? Certainly, the teachers in my college did not know, but one will get back to me today. See what she says.  
> **username_6**: Apparently baidu says it is mo4 and it is from Vietnam.But baidu doesn't seem to say what it means.  
> **username_2**: zdic used to say mo4 but has subsequently removed this pronunciation from it's entry, leaving no pronunciation whatsoever.  

---

