鞄

鞄 (Kangxi radical 177, 革+5, 14 strokes, cangjie input 廿十心口山 (TJPRU), four-corner 4751₂, composition ⿰革包)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1386, character 38
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 42781
• Dae Jaweon: page 1901, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4331, character 12
• Unihan data for U+9784

革 (“leather”) + 包.

鞄

1. to work hides
2. leather bag

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

• Go-on: びょう (byō)^{←べう (beu, historical)}
• Kan-on: ほう (hō)^{←はう (fau, historical)}
• Kun: かばん (kaban, 鞄)

Possibly derived from Chinese 夾板 / 夹板 (jiābǎn) or 夾槾 / 夹槾 (jiāmàn, “boards for pressing or holding things together”),^[1][2] modern Min Nan reading kiap-pán.

Some references mention a possible borrowing from Belgian Dutch kabas with an ostensible meaning of bag.^[3] However, this is problematic on both semantic grounds, as Dutch sources indicate that the word means not bag but rather basket, in keeping with its apparent derivation from French cabas (“basket”);^[4] and on phonological grounds, as there is no clear mechanism for converting the final /s/ in the Dutch into the final /n/ in the Japanese, especially considering how relatively recently the Japanese word kaban first appears.

The original meaning of the kanji 鞄 referred to tanned leather or a tanner who produces such material.^[2][3] The native reading (kun'yomi) kaban only appears from the Meiji period (1868–1912).^[2]

First attested with this reading to a work from 1877;^[2] over the period of roughly 1877–1887, this word grew in popularity and displaced the previous term 胴乱 (dōran, “satchel”).^[2][5]

• (Tokyo) かばん [kàbáń] (Heiban – [0])^[1][6]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠bã̠ɴ]

鞄(かばん) • (kaban) 

1. [from 1877] a bag, satchel, briefcase, or handbag (often made of leather or canvas)

   Synonym: (archaic) 胴乱 (dōran)

   • 1986, “Kimi o Nosete [Carrying You]”, Hayao Miyazaki (lyrics), Joe Hisaishi (music), performed by Azumi Inoue:

     さあ　でかけよう　ひときれのパン　ナイフ　ランプ　かばんにつめこんで

     Sā, dekakeyō, hitokire no pan, naifu, ranpu, kaban ni tsumekonde

     Let’s set out [on a journey with] a slice of bread, knife, [and] lamp, [all] stuffed in your bag.

• → Hokkien: kha-báng
• → Korean: 가방 (gabang)

• “^▲鞄”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[3] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

鞄 (eum 포 (po))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

鞄: Hán Việt readings: bào, bạc

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.