南

南 U+5357, 南
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5357
← 卖
[U+5356] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 単 →
[U+5358]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

南 (radical 24, 十+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 十月廿十 (JBTJ), four-corner 40227, composition ⿱十⿵冂𢆉)

References

  • KangXi: page 157, character 5
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2750
  • Dae Jaweon: page 357, character 8
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 65, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+5357

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 南

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 南
Shang Western Zhou Spring and Autumn Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Bronze inscriptions Chu Slip and silk script Qin slip script Ancient script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (南) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
南 *nuːm
楠 *nuːm
腩 *nuːmʔ
湳 *nuːmʔ
揇 *nuːmʔ
萳 *nuːmʔ
罱 *ruːmʔ
喃 *rnuːm
諵 *rnuːm, *rnuːms

This character has been explained as a pictogram (象形) of a hanging percussion instrument, originally identical to the left side of 㱿. Under this hypothesis its borrowing for the word “south” is difficult to explain.

Sagart (1988) instead proposes that it is a pictogram of the front of a house. Archaeological evidence confirms that in antiquity, at least in some regions, houses were built to face south.

Pronunciation 1

  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 南
Mandarin Beijing /nan³⁵/
Harbin /nan²⁴/
Tianjin /nan⁴⁵/
Jinan /nã⁴²/
Qingdao /nã⁴²/
Zhengzhou /nan⁴²/
Xi'an /nã²⁴/
Xining /nã²⁴/
Yinchuan /nan⁵³/
Lanzhou /lɛ̃n⁵³/
Ürümqi /nan⁵¹/
Wuhan /nan²¹³/
Chengdu /nan³¹/
Guiyang /nan²¹/
Kunming /nã̠³¹/
Nanjing /laŋ²⁴/
Hefei /læ̃⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /næ̃¹¹/
Pingyao /nɑŋ¹³/
Hohhot /næ̃³¹/
Wu Shanghai /nø²³/
Suzhou /nø¹³/
Hangzhou /nẽ̞²¹³/
Wenzhou /nø³¹/
Hui Shexian /lɛ⁴⁴/
Tunxi /lɔ⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /lan¹³/
Xiangtan /nan¹²/
Gan Nanchang /lan⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /nam¹¹/
Taoyuan /nɑm¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /nam²¹/
Nanning /nam²¹/
Hong Kong /nam²¹/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /lam³⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /naŋ⁵³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /naŋ³³/
Shantou (Min Nan) /nam⁵⁵/
Haikou (Min Nan) /nam³¹/
Rime
Character 南
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 泥 (8)
Final (韻) 覃 (159)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 那含切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /nʌm/
Pan
Wuyun		 /nəm/
Shao
Rongfen		 /nɒm/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /nəm/
Li
Rong		 /nᴀm/
Wang
Li		 /nɒm/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /năm/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 nán
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 南
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 nán
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ nom ›
Old
Chinese		 /*nˤ[ə]m/
English south

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 南
Reading # 1/1
No. 9355
Phonetic
component		 南
Rime
group		 侵
Rime
subdivision		 2
Corresponding
MC rime		 南
Old
Chinese		 /*nuːm/

Definitions

南

  1. south; southern
Coordinate terms
  • 東／东 (dōng): East; Eastern
  • 西 (xī): West; Western
  • 北 (běi): North; Northern

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

南

  1. (Buddhism) Only used in 南無／南无 (námó).

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

南

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. south

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
南
みなみ
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Pronunciation

Noun

南 (hiragana みなみ, rōmaji minami)

  1. south
    • c. 762: Shōsōin Man'yōgana Monjo
      和可夜之奈比乃 可波利爾波 於保末之末須 美奈美乃末知奈流奴乎 宇氣與止 於保止己可都可佐乃比止伊布 之可流可由恵爾 序禮宇氣牟比止良 久流末毛太之米弖 末都利伊禮之米太末布日 與禮良毛伊太佐牟 之可毛己乃波古美於可牟毛 阿夜布可流 可由恵爾 波夜久末可利太末布日之 於保己可ツ可佐奈比氣奈波 比止乃太氣太可比止 □己止波宇氣都流

Proper noun

南 (hiragana みなみ, rōmaji Minami)

  1. A surname​.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
南
みんなみ
Grade: 2
Irregular

Alteration of minami.[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Irregular reading)

Noun

南 (hiragana みんなみ, rōmaji minnami)

  1. south

References

  1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN

Korean

Hanja

南 • (nam)

  1. south; southern

Vietnamese

Han character

Adjective

南 (nam)

  1. south, southern

References

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