刺青

Chinese

		thorn; sting; prick thorn; sting; prick; pierce; stab; thrust; assassinate; murder	green (blue, black); Qinghai province (abbrev.)
trad. (刺青)		刺	青
simp. ^#(刺青)		刺	青

Etymology

From Japanese. The word is not attested in any pre-modern Chinese source. It should be noted that the following quotation does not count as a reference to this word:

12th c., 朱彧, 萍洲可談:

朱他日在鄉閭見群丐中有刺青眉者…… [MSC, trad.]
朱他日在乡闾见群丐中有刺青眉者…… [MSC, simp.]

zhū tārì zài xiānglǘ jiàn qún gài zhōng yǒu cì qīng méi zhě...... [Pinyin]

Zhu later in his hometown saw among a group of beggars one with tattooed black eyebrows...

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): cìqīng

(Zhuyin): ㄘˋ ㄑㄧㄥ
Cantonese (Jyutping): ci³ ceng¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: cìqīng
  - Zhuyin: ㄘˋ ㄑㄧㄥ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: cìhcing
  - Wade–Giles: tzʻŭ⁴-chʻing¹
  - Yale: tsz̀-chīng
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsyhching
  - Palladius: цыцин (cycin)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰz̩⁵¹ t͡ɕʰiŋ⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong–Macau)⁺
  - Jyutping: ci³ ceng¹
  - Yale: chi chēng
  - Cantonese Pinyin: tsi³ tseng¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: qi³ céng¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰiː³³ t͡sʰɛːŋ⁵⁵/

Verb

刺青

to tattoo

Noun

刺青

tattoo

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 紋身 (“to tattoo”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		文身, 紋身, 刺青
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	紋身, 刺青
Northeastern Mandarin	Singapore	紋身
Cantonese	Hong Kong	紋身
Gan	Lichuan	紋身
Southern Min	Xiamen	刺龍, 刺鳳, 刺字, 紋身
	Quanzhou	刺字, 紋身
	Zhangzhou	紋身
	Tainan	刺字 GT, 刺龍 GT, 刺鳳 GT, 紋身 GT
	Singapore (Hokkien)	畫尪公
Note	GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
刺	青
いれずみ
Grade: S	Grade: 1
jukujikun

Alternative spelling
刺靑 (kyūjitai)

For pronunciation and definitions of 刺青 – see the following entry.

【いれずみ】

[noun] a tattoo (an image made in the skin with ink and a needle)

[noun] a punishment in which a criminals were given a tattoo as a mark of their criminal record

[verb] to tattoo

Alternative spellings
入れ墨, 入墨, 文身, 黥

(This term, 刺青, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
刺	青
し Grade: S	せい Grade: 1
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
刺靑 (kyūjitai)

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) しせー [shìséé] (Heiban – [0])
IPA^(key): [ɕise̞ː]

Noun

刺(し)青(せい) • (shisei)

tattoo

References

“刺青”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025