南

Translingual

		-
simp. and trad.		南

Etymology

Pictogram (象形): a hanging percussion instrument.

Borrowed for the word "south," for unknown reasons (phonetic resemblance?). Originally identical to the left side of 殼.

Han character

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

Stroke order

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

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nán (nan²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄢˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): naam⁴
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): nàm
• Min Nan (POJ): lâm
• Wu (WT Romanisation): noe (T3)

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: nán
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄢˊ
    • Wade-Giles: nan²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nan
    • IPA ^(key): /na̠n³⁵/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: naam⁴
    • Yale: nàahm
    • Cantonese Pinyin: naam⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /nɑːm²¹/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: nàm
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /nam¹¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lâm
    • Tâi-lô: lâm
    • IPA (Taipei): /lam²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /lam¹³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: noe (T3)
    • IPA ^(key): /nø²³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (南, reconstructed)
Character (南), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 泥 (8) Final: 覃 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 那含切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/nʌm/	/năm/	/nᴀm/	/nəm/	/nəm/	/nɒm/	/nɒm/

Old Chinese pronunciation (南, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
南								nán								‹ nom ›								/*nˤ[ə]m/								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					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
南					9355					南					侵					2					南					/*nuːm/

Noun

南

1. south, southern

Coordinate terms

• 東／东
• 西
• 北

Compounds

• 南半球
• 南北
• 南边
• 南部
• 南豆腐
• 南方
• 南非
• 南宫
• 南瓜
• 南国
• 南寒带
• 南胡
• 南回归线
• 南货
• 南极
• 南极光
• 南极圈
• 南京
• 南柯一梦

• 南面, 南面儿
• 南南合作
• 南欧
• 南腔北调
• 南曲
• 南式
• 南斯拉夫
• 南天极
• 南甜北咸
• 南纬
• 南味
• 南温带
• 南戏
• 南下
• 南亚
• 南洋
• 南辕北辙
• 南竹

---

Japanese

Kanji

南

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. south

Readings

• Goon: なん (nan), み (mi)
• Kan’on: だん (dan)
• Kan’yōon: な (na)
• Kun: みなみ (minami)

Kanji in this term

南

みなみ Grade: 2

kun'yomi

Noun

南 (hiragana みなみ, romaji minami)

1. the 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, romaji Minami)

1. A surname​.

References

• 1962 May 2, Rizō Takeuchi, Nara Ibun: Volume 3 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Tōkyōdō Shuppan, ISBN 4-4903-0010-7:

---

Korean

Hanja

南 (nam)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 남 (revised: nam, McCune-Reischauer: nam, Yale: nam)

• Name (hangeul): 남녘 (revised: namnyeok, McCune-Reischauer: namnyŏk, Yale: namnyekh)

1. the south

---

Vietnamese

Character

Readings

• Hán Việt: na, nam
• Nôm: nằm, nồm, nam, năm

Etymology

Adjective

南 (nam)

1. south, southern

References

• Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)