九

See also: 玖, 丸, and 力
九 U+4E5D, 九
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E5D
← 乜
[U+4E5C] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 乞 →
[U+4E5E]

Translingual

Stroke order
Stroke order

Han character

九 (radical 5, 乙+1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 大弓 (KN), four-corner 40017, composition ⿻丿乙)

Derived characters

References

  • KangXi: page 83, character 19
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 167
  • Dae Jaweon: page 168, character 2
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 48, character 5
  • Unihan data for U+4E5D

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 九
alt. forms 玖 financial
𠔀
𢌬
𣲄

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 九
Shang Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Chu Slip and silk script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script

j29822

j29823

j29824

j29825

j29826

j29827

j29828

j29829

j29830

j29831

j29832

j29833

j29834

j29835

j29836

j29837

j29838

j29839

j29840

j29841

j29842

j29843

j29844

j29845

j29846

j29847

j29848

j29849

j29850

j29851

Bronze inscriptions

b19923

b19924

b19925

b19926

b19927

b19928

b19929

b19930

b19931

b19932

b19933

b19934

b19935

b19936

b19937

b19938

b19939

b19940

b19941

b19942

b19943

b19944

b19945

b19946

b19947

b19948

b19949

b19950

b19951

b19952

b19953

b19954

b19955

b19956

b19957

Small seal script

s10923

Transcribed ancient scripts

L35389

L35390

L35391

L35392

L35393

L18222

L18223

L18224

L18225

L18226

L18227

L18228

L18229

L18230

L18231

L18232

References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and
  • Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series (九) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
尻 *kʰuː
訄 *kʰuː, *kʰu, *ɡu
艽 *krɯːw, *qʰrɯːw, *ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
虓 *qʰruː
鳩 *ku
勼 *ku
九 *kuʔ
究 *kus
仇 *ɡu
鼽 *ɡu
犰 *ɡu
叴 *ɡu
厹 *ɡu
頄 *ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
朹 *ɡu, *kʷrɯwʔ
馗 *ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
扏 *ɡu
訅 *ɡu
釚 *ɡu
肍 *ɡu
軌 *kʷrɯwʔ
宄 *kʷrɯwʔ
氿 *kʷrɯwʔ
匭 *kʷrɯwʔ
泦 *kuɡ
旭 *qʰʷoɡ

Pictogram (象形) – a stylized hand, with bent wrist/forearm (hence the hook stroke at lower right). Earlier forms resemble 手, 寸. The original meaning of the glyph was “elbow”, which is now written 肘 (OC *tkuʔ).

After the meaning “elbow” was forgotten, 九 was taken to symbolize a fist tightening to bump up against something; thus, there is a metaphorical bumping up of nine against ten, which is the last number when counting on one's fingers.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d/s-kəw. Compare Tibetan དགུ (dgu).

Pronunciation

Note:
  • gāu - vernacular;
  • giū - literary.
Note:
  • káu - vernacular;
  • kiú - literary.
Note:
  • gao2 - vernacular;
  • giu2 - literary.
Rime
Character 九
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 見 (28)
Final (韻) 尤 (136)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 舉有切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kɨuX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kiuX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /kiəuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kuwX/
Li
Rong		 /kiuX/
Wang
Li		 /kĭəuX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ki̯ə̯uX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 jiǔ
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 九
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 jiǔ
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ kjuwX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*[k]uʔ/
English nine

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 九
Reading # 1/1
No. 6941
Phonetic
component		 九
Rime
group		 幽
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 久
Old
Chinese		 /*kuʔ/

Definitions

九

  1. nine
  2. (figuratively) many
  3. (weather) each of the nine nine-day periods from the winter solstice

See also

Chinese numbers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102 103 104 108 1012
Normal
(小寫／小写)		 〇 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 百 千 萬／万 億／亿 兆 (Taiwan)
萬億／万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial
(大寫／大写)		 零 壹 貳／贰 參／叁 肆 伍 陸／陆 柒 捌 玖 拾 佰 仟

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (九):
  • Japanese: 九 (く) (ku); 九 (きゅう) (kyū)
  • Korean: 구 (九, gu)
  • Vietnamese: cửu (九)

Others:

Japanese

Japanese cardinal numbers
 <  8 9 10  > 
    Cardinal : 九

Kanji

九

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. nine

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Early Middle Chinese. Goon, the initial reading when first borrowed into Japanese.

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Number

九 (hiragana く, rōmaji ku)

  1. nine
  2. ninth

Noun

九 (hiragana く, rōmaji ku)

  1. nine
  2. the ninth

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese. Kan'on, a later reading. Borrowed after palatalisation occurred in Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

Number

九 (hiragana きゅう, rōmaji kyū, historical hiragana きう)

  1. nine

Noun

九 (hiragana きゅう, rōmaji kyū, historical hiragana きう)

  1. nine
  2. an indeterminate large number, a myriad, a great many
  3. (divination) the number of yang, in opposition to 六 (roku, “six”) as the number of yin
Alternative forms
  • (large number): 究

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

Number

九 (hiragana ここの, rōmaji kokono)

  1. nine

Etymology 4

/kokono/ → /kono/

Abbreviation of Old Japanese kokono (“nine”).

Pronunciation

Number

九 (hiragana この, rōmaji kono)

  1. nine
    ひい、ふう、みい、…なな、やあ、この、とお
    hī, fū, mī, …nana, yā, kono, tō
    one, two, three, ... seven, eight, nine, ten
Alternative forms
Usage notes

Generally only used when counting out loud, as in the example above. In writing, usually found spelled out in hiragana as この to make the reading unambiguous.

References

Korean

Hanja

九 • (gu)

  1. nine

Compounds

Vietnamese

Han character

九 (cửu)

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