九

See also: 玖 and 丸

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

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.

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 the last number when counting on one's fingers.

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

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

Related characters

• 丸

See also

• (Chinese written numbers): 零 or 〇， 一， 二， 三， 四， 五， 六， 七， 八， 九， 十， 百， 千， 萬／万， 億／亿
• (Chinese financial form): 玖

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

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		九

Etymology

From Old Chinese *kuʔ, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d/s-kəw (compare Classical Tibetan dgu)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jiǔ (jiu³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄡˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gau²
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): kiú
• Min Nan (POJ): kiú / káu / kiáu
• Wu (WT Romanisation): jieu (T2)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: jiǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄡˇ
    • Wade-Giles: chiu³
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jeou
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi̯oʊ̯²¹⁴/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: gau²
    • Yale: gáu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gau²
    • IPA ^(key): /kɐu̯³⁵/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kiú
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /ki̯u³¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kiú / káu / kiáu
    • Tâi-lô: kiú / káu / kiáu
    • IPA (Taipei): /kiu⁴¹/, /kaʊ⁴¹/, /kiaʊ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kiu⁵³/, /kaʊ⁵³/, /kiaʊ⁵³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: jieu (T2)
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕiɜ³⁴/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (九, reconstructed)
Character (九), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 見 (28) Final: 尤 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Rising (X)			Fanqie: 舉有切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/kɨuX/	/ki̯ə̯uX/	/kiuX/	/kiuX/	/kuwX/	/kĭəuX/	/kiəuX/

Old Chinese pronunciation (九, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
九								jiǔ								‹ kjuwX ›								/*[k]uʔ/								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					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
九					6941					九					幽					1					久					/*kuʔ/

Numeral

九

1. nine

See also

• (Chinese written numbers): 零 or 〇， 一， 二， 三， 四， 五， 六， 七， 八， 九， 十， 百， 千， 萬／万， 億／亿

Compounds

• 九一八事变 (九一八事變)

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Japanese

Kanji

九

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. nine

Readings

• Goon: く (ku)
• Kan’on: きゅう (kyū), (historical) きう (kiu)
• Kun: ここの (kokono), ここのつ (九つ, kokonotsu)
• Nanori: いちじく (ichijiku), いちのく (ichinoku), この (kono), ひさし (hisashi)

Compounds

Compounds

九夏 (きゅうか, kyūka): 九官鳥 (きゅうかんちょう, kyūkanchō): a mina or mynah bird 九牛一毛 (きゅうぎゅういちもう, kyū gyū ichi mō): nine cows one hair (a drop in the ocean) 九九, 九々 (くく, kuku): Multiplication table 九月 (くがつ, kugatsu): September 九死 (きゅうし, kyūshi): near death, nearly dead, a close shave 九州 (きゅうしゅう, Kyūshū): the Kyūshū region of Japan 九重 (ここのえ, kokonoe): 九寸五分 (くすんごぶ, kusun gobu): a short sword, a dagger 九星 (きゅうせい, kyūsei): 九折 (きゅうせつ, kyūsetsu): 九泉 (きゅうせん, kyūsen): the nether world 九地 (きゅうち, kyūchi): 九天 (きゅうてん, kyūten): the Ninth Heaven (the highest of heavens) 九拝 (きゅうはい, kyūhai): 九分 (くぶ, kubu): 九輪 (くりん, kurin): 九六 (くんろく, kunroku):

Etymology 1

Japanese cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : 九

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

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• IPA^(key): /ku/, [kɯᵝ]

Alternative forms

• 玖

Number

九 (hiragana く, romaji ku)

1. nine
2. ninth

Noun

九 (hiragana く, romaji ku)

1. nine
2. the ninth

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• IPA^(key): /kju.u/, [kjɯᵝː]

• Audio

  (file)

Number

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

1. nine

Noun

九 (hiragana きゅう, romaji 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

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): /ko.ko.no/, [ko̞ko̞no̞]

Counter

九 (hiragana ここの, romaji -kokono)

1. nine

Etymology 4

/kokono/ → /kono/

Abbreviation of Old Japanese kokono (“nine”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ko̞no̞]

Number

九 (hiragana この, romaji 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

• この

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

• The Japan Times (March 17, 2010). You can count on the tales behind number-kanji. Accessed March 23, 2010.

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Korean

Hanja

九 (gu)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 구 (revised: gu, McCune-Reischauer: ku, Yale: kwu)

• Name (hangeul): 아홉 (revised: ahop, McCune-Reischauer: ahop, Yale: ahop)

1. nine

Compounds

• 正九品
• 從九品
• 重九
• 九重
• 九月
• 九輪
• 九冬
• 九九
• 九泉
• 九官鳥
• 九天
• 九界
• 九經
• 九族

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Vietnamese

Han character

九 (cửu)

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

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Wu

Hanzi

Latin Alphabet: juˇ Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄐ一ㄡˇ

九 (transliteration needed)

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