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Definition 2024


U+5357, 南
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5357

[U+5356]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+5358]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 24 +7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 十月廿十 (JBTJ), four-corner 40227, composition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.

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*nuːm
*nuːm
*nuːmʔ
*nuːmʔ
*nuːmʔ
*nuːmʔ
*ruːmʔ
*rnuːm
*rnuːm, *rnuːms

This character has been explained as a pictogram (象形) of a hanging percussion instrument, originally identical to the left side of (OC *kʰroːɡ). 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
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
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (8)
Final () (159)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () I
Fanqie
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
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
Reading # 1/1
No. 9355
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
2
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*nuːm/

Definitions

  1. south; southern
Coordinate terms

Compounds

Pronunciation 2


Definitions

  1. (Buddhism) Only used in 南無南无.

Compounds


Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. south

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
みなみ
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana みなみ, romaji 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

(hiragana みなみ, romaji Minami)

  1. A surname.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
みんなみ
Grade: 2
Irregular

Alteration of minami.[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) んなみ [mìńnámí] (Heiban - [0])[2]
  • IPA(key): [mĩnna̠mi]

Noun

(hiragana みんなみ, romaji minnami)

  1. south

References

  1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  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 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

(nam)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul):  (revised: nam, McCune-Reischauer: nam, Yale: nam)
  • Name (hangeul): 남녘 (revised: namnyeok, McCune-Reischauer: namnyŏk, Yale: namnyekh)
  1. the south

Vietnamese

Han character

Etymology

Adjective

(nam)

  1. south, southern

References