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Definition 2024
北
北
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Translingual
Han character
北 (radical 21 匕+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 中一心 (LMP), four-corner 11110, composition ⿰丬匕)
See also
References
| Japanese stroke order | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
- KangXi: page 152, character 25
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2574
- Dae Jaweon: page 342, character 6
- Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 262, character 4
- Unihan data for U+5317
Chinese
|
simp. and trad. |
北 | |
|---|---|---|
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 北
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Bamboo and silk script | Large seal script | Small seal script |
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| Characters in the same phonetic series (北) (Zhengzhang, 2003) | |
|---|---|
| Old Chinese | |
| 背 | *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs |
| 鄁 | *bɯːɡs |
| 偝 | *bɯːɡs |
| 邶 | *bɯːɡs |
| 苝 | *bɯːɡs |
| 北 | *pɯːɡ |
Ideogrammic compound (會意) – two men back to back. Originally meaning “back”; the character 背 (OC *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs) refers to the original word.
Etymology
The sense of “north” is derived from “back (of body)”: “back” > “to turn the back to; to retreat” > “north”.
The ancient Chinese value the southern direction and houses are traditionally oriented along a north-south axis, as evident in the fengshui theory and orientation of buildings in Chinese Neolithic sites. North is the direction the back is oriented to when the person is facing south.
Compare the graphical origin of 南 (OC *nuːm, “south”) (Sagart, 1988).
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- Cantonese (Jyutping): bak1
- Hakka (Sixian, PFS): pet
- Min Dong (BUC): báe̤k
- Min Nan (POJ): pak / pok
- Wu (Wiktionary): poq (T4)
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄅㄟˇ
- Wade-Giles: pei3
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: beei
- IPA (key): /peɪ̯²¹⁴/
-
- (Standard Chinese, literary, chiefly Taiwan)+
- Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄅㄛˋ
- Wade-Giles: po4
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: boh
- IPA (key): /pu̯ɔ⁵¹/
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Jyutping: bak1
- Yale: bāk
- Cantonese Pinyin: bak7
- IPA (key): /pɐk̚⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: pet
- Hakka Romanization System: bed`
- Hagfa Pinyim: bed5
- IPA: /pet̚²/
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Min Dong
- (Fuzhou)
- Bàng-uâ-cê: báe̤k
- IPA (key): /pɔyʔ²⁴/
- (Fuzhou)
- Min Nan
- Wu
- (Shanghainese)
- Wiktionary: poq (T4)
- IPA (key): /pʊʔ⁵⁵/
- (Shanghainese)
- Dialectal data▼
| Variety | Location | 北 |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | Beijing | /pei²¹⁴/ |
| Harbin | /pei²¹³/ | |
| Tianjin | /pei¹³/ | |
| Jinan | /pei²¹³/ | |
| Qingdao | /pe⁵⁵/ | |
| Zhengzhou | /pei²⁴/ | |
| Xi'an | /pei²¹/ | |
| Xining | /pɨ⁴⁴/ | |
| Yinchuan |
/pia¹³/ /pɛ¹³/ |
|
| Lanzhou | /pə¹³/ | |
| Ürümqi | /pei²¹³/ | |
| Wuhan | /pɤ²¹³/ | |
| Chengdu | /pe³¹/ | |
| Guiyang | /pɛ²¹/ | |
| Kunming | /pə³¹/ | |
| Nanjing | /pəʔ⁵/ | |
| Hefei | /pɐʔ⁵/ | |
| Jin | Taiyuan | /pei⁵³/ |
| Pingyao |
/pʌʔ¹³/ ～城 /piʌʔ¹³/ ～面面 |
|
| Hohhot | /piəʔ⁴³/ | |
| Wu | Shanghai | /poʔ⁵/ |
| Suzhou | /poʔ⁵/ | |
| Hangzhou | /poʔ⁵/ | |
| Wenzhou | /pai²¹³/ | |
| Hui | Shexian | /peʔ²¹/ |
| Tunxi | /pi⁵/ | |
| Xiang | Changsha | /pə²⁴/ |
| Xiangtan | /pæ²⁴/ | |
| Gan | Nanchang | /pɛʔ⁵/ |
| Hakka | Meixian | /pet̚¹/ |
| Taoyuan | /pet̚²²/ | |
| Cantonese | Guangzhou | /pɐk̚⁵/ |
| Nanning | /pɐk̚⁵⁵/ | |
| Hong Kong | /pɐk̚⁵/ | |
| Min | Xiamen (Min Nan) |
/pɔk̚³²/ /pak̚³²/ |
| Fuzhou (Min Dong) | /pɔyʔ²³/ | |
| Jian'ou (Min Bei) | /pɛ²⁴/ | |
| Shantou (Min Nan) | /pak̚²/ | |
| Haikou (Min Nan) | /ʔbak̚⁵/ |
| Rime | |
|---|---|
| Character | 北 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 幫 (1) |
| Final (韻) | 德 (131) |
| Tone (調) | Checked (Ø) |
| Openness (開合) | Open |
| Division (等) | I |
| Fanqie | 博墨切 |
| Reconstructions | |
| Zhengzhang Shangfang |
/pək̚/ |
| Pan Wuyun |
/pək̚/ |
| Shao Rongfen |
/pək̚/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank |
/pək̚/ |
| Li Rong |
/pək̚/ |
| Wang Li |
/pək̚/ |
| Bernard Karlgren |
/pək̚/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex |
bo |
| Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014) | |
|---|---|
| Character | 北 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) |
běi |
| Middle Chinese |
‹ pok › |
| Old Chinese |
/*pˤək/ |
| English | north |
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; | |
| Zhengzhang system (2003) | |
|---|---|
| Character | 北 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| No. | 414 |
| Phonetic component |
北 |
| Rime group |
職 |
| Rime subdivision |
0 |
| Corresponding MC rime |
北 |
| Old Chinese |
/*pɯːɡ/ |
Definitions
北
Coordinate terms
Compounds
Derived terms from 北
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Japanese
Kanji
北
Readings
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 北 |
|
きた Grade: 2 |
| kun'yomi |
Pronunciation
- Kun'yomi
-
(Tokyo) きた [k
ìtá] (Heiban - [0])[1][2] -
(Tokyo) きた [k
ìtáꜜ] (Odaka - [2])[1][2] - IPA(key): [kʲi̥ta̠]
Noun
Proper noun
- A surname.
References
- 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
- 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 978-4-14-011112-3
Korean
Hanja
北 • (buk, bae)
Eumhun:
- Name (hangeul): 북녘, 달아나다 (revised: bungnyeok, dalanada, McCune-Reischauer: pungnyŏk, talanada, Yale: puknyekh, tal.anata)
- the north, the northern part
- (figuratively) North Korea (used in news media)
Okinawan
Kanji
北
Etymology
Cognate with mainland Japanese 西 (nishi, “west”).
Noun
北 (hiragana にし, romaji nishi)