Definition
坤 is a bound form (b.f.) that appears in classical and formal Chinese, not in everyday speech. It represents the female or receptive principle in the Yijing (I Ching), where it is one of the Eight Trigrams (☷) and one of the Sixty-four Hexagrams (䷁), symbolizing earth, submission, and the feminine. You'll encounter it in compounds like 乾坤 (the universe, lit. heaven and earth) and 坤包 (a woman's handbag), but it rarely stands alone.
b.f.
(in Yijing) the trigram/hexagram for earththe receptive principle(literary) femalefeminine
Examples
- 。Qián kūn dàibiǎo tiān dì.Qian and Kun represent heaven and earth.
- 坤。Zhège kūn bāo hěn piàoliang.This woman's handbag is very pretty.
- 坤。Yìjīng zhōng de kūn guà xiàngzhēng dà dì.The Kun hexagram in the Yijing symbolizes the great earth.
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