Kambun
/ˈkɑːm.bʊn/noun
A variant romanization of Japanese kanbun, referring to Classical Chinese texts or the Japanese method of reading them.
Did you know?Kanbun reading uses marks and rearrangement signs to make Classical Chinese readable in Japanese word order, functioning almost like a historical translation cipher.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient China
Chinese
漢文 (hànwén)
“Chinese writing or literary Chinese; literally, the writing of the Han people”
Han Dynasty, 206 BCE–220 CE
Chinese
漢 (Hàn)
“Han, the dynasty and ethnonym that became associated with Chinese civilization”
Medieval Japan
Japanese
漢文 (kanbun)
“Classical Chinese texts, especially as studied and read by Japanese scholars”
Medieval–Early Modern Japan
Japanese
漢文訓読 (kanbun kundoku)
“The practice of reading Chinese texts with Japanese grammatical interpretation and reading marks”
17th Century
Japanese
寛文 (Kanbun)
“The name of a Japanese era, 1661–1673, conventionally romanized Kanbun or Kambun”
Modern English
English
Kambun
“An established variant romanization used for kanbun or the Japanese Kanbun era”