乃

See also: ㄋ, 及, 廴, and 廼

Translingual

Etymology

From ancient 𠄎; Ideogram (指事) – pregnant woman (swollen breasts and stomach); compare 孕.

Han character

乃 (radical 4 丿+1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 弓竹尸 (NHS), four-corner 1722₇, composition ⿹𠄎丿)

1. then
2. really, indeed
3. as it turned out, after all
   • Chapter 23 of Volume 2 of Pu Songling's 聊齋志異 (In Classical Chinese)

     乃懼，復造善脈者診之。

4. namely
5. you, your (pre-classical)

Derived characters

• 秀 孕 𫂲

Descendants

• の
• ノ
• ㄋ

References

• KangXi: page 81, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 113
• Dae Jaweon: page 165, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 31, character 5
• Unihan data for U+4E43

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		乃

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nǎi (nai³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄞˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): naai⁵, oi²
• Min Nan (POJ): lái / nái

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: nǎi
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄞˇ
    • Wade-Giles: nai³
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nae
    • IPA ^(key): /naɪ̯²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: naai⁵, oi²
    • Yale: náaih, ói
    • Cantonese Pinyin: naai⁵, oi²
    • IPA ^(key): /nɑːi̯¹³/, /ɔːi̯³⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lái / nái
    • Tâi-lô: lái / nái
    • IPA (Taipei): /laɪ⁴¹/, /naɪ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /laɪ⁵³/, /naɪ⁵³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (乃, reconstructed)
Character (乃), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 泥 (8) Final: 咍 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Rising (X)			Fanqie: 奴亥切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/nʌiX/	/nɑ̆iX/	/nᴀiX/	/nəiX/	/nəjX/	/nɒiX/	/nɒiX/

Old Chinese pronunciation (乃, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
乃								nǎi								‹ nojX ›								/*nˤə(ŋ)ʔ/								your
乃								nǎi								‹ nojX ›								/*nˤəʔ/								then
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					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
乃					9337					乃					之					0					乃					/*nɯːʔ/

Definitions

1. be
2. just

References

• (Mandarin) 2005, 新編字典 (in Mandarin/English), 吉林大學出版社, ISBN 7560124291:
• (Min Nan) Open Dictionary Network - Min Nan Dictionary (kaifangcidian.com)
• (Min Nan) VoiceDic (汉语方言发音字典)

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Japanese

Kanji

乃

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Readings

• On: だい (dai), あい (ai), ない (nai)
• Kun: すなわち (sunawachi), の (no)

See also

• 之
• の

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Korean

Hanja

乃 (nae)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 내 (revised: nae, McCune-Reischauer: nae, Yale: nay)

• Name (hangeul): 이에 (revised: ie, McCune-Reischauer: ie)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

References

• Naver Hanja Dictionary: 乃

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Vietnamese

Han character

乃 (nải, nãi, náy, nảy, nấy, nãy, nới, hồng)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

References

• Nom Foundation