東

See also 东

Translingual

Stroke order

simpl.		东
trad.		東

Etymology

Phonetic borrowing – originally represented a bag tied at both ends (like a cellophane-wrapped candy with the ends twisted), and was later borrowed phonetically to mean "east". This borrowing may have been influenced by reinterpreting the character as the sun (日) rising behind a tree (木), which is the traditional (though incorrect) etymology.

Han character

東 (radical 75 木+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 木田 (DW), four-corner 5090₆, composition ⿻木日)

1. east, eastern, eastward

Coordinate terms

• 南 (“south”)
• 西 (“west”)
• 北 (“north”)

Descendants

• 棟, 重, 凍, 涷, 蝀

References

• KangXi: page 513, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14499
• Dae Jaweon: page 899, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1165, character 4
• Unihan data for U+6771

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Cantonese

Hanzi

東 (simplified 东, Yale dung1)

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Japanese

Etymology 1

/himukasi/: *pimukasi > ɸimukasi > himukashi. Compound of pi (“sun”), muka (“facing, direction”), and shi (“wind, direction”). Literally "the direction facing the sun".

Noun

東 (hiragana ひむかし, romaji himukashi)

1. east

Etymology 2

• pingasi > ɸingasi > hingashi. From earlier /himukasi/: *pimukasi > ɸimkasi > ɸimgasi > ɸigasi > higasi.

Noun

東 (hiragana ひんがし, romaji hingashi)

1. east
   • 10th century: Ise Monogatari (chapter 4, page 82)

     むかし、東（ひんがし）の五条に大后の宮おはしましける、西の対に住む人有けり。

Etymology 3

From hingashi, from himukashi.

Noun

東 (hiragana ひがし, romaji higashi)

1. east

Proper noun

東 (hiragana ひがし, romaji Higashi)

1. A surname.

Etymology 4

aduma > azuma.

Noun

東 (hiragana あずま, romaji azuma, historical hiragana あづま)

1. east, Eastern Japan

Proper noun

東 (hiragana あずま, romaji Azuma)

1. A male given name
2. A surname.

Kanji

東 (grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On: とう (tō)
• Kun: ひがし (higashi)
• Nanori: あい (ai), あがり (agari), あずま (azuma), あづま (adzuma), こ (ko), さき (saki), しの (shino), とお (tō), はじめ (hajime), はる (haru), ひが (higa), もと (moto)

Compounds

東方 (tōhō): eastern direction 東南 (tōnan): southeast 東亜 (tōa): East Asia 東洋 (tōyō): Orient 東部 (tōbu): eastern part 東西南北 (tōzainanboku): east, west, south, and north 関東 (kantō): Kanto 東風 (kochi): a spring wind that blows from the east

中東 (chūtō): Middle East 東京 (tōkyō): Tokyo 東上 (tōjō): going to Tokyo 東名高速道路 (tōmei kōsokudōro): Tokyo-Nagoya Expressway 東側 (higashigawa): east side 東口 (higashiguchi): east entrance 東半球 (higashihankyū): Eastern Hemisphere 東方 (tōhō): Touhou Project

References

• 1997 May 22, Hideaki Horiuchi; Ken Akiyama, Taketori Monogatari , Ise Monogatari, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-00-240017-4:

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Korean

Hanja

東
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 동 (revised: dong, McCune-Reischauer: tong, Yale: tong)

• Name (hangeul): 동녘 (revised: dongnyeok, McCune-Reischauer: tongnyŏk, Yale: tongnyekh)

Compounds

• 征東 (정동)
• 正東 (정동)
• 正東方 (정동방)
• 齊東野人 (제동야인)
• 東大門 (동대문)

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Mandarin

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Hanzi

東 (simplified 东, pinyin dōng (dong1), Wade-Giles tung¹)

Noun

東 (traditional, Pinyin dōng, simplified 东)

1. east, eastern, eastward

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Min Nan

Hanji

東 (traditional and simplified, POJ tang (vernacular), tong (literary))

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Vietnamese

Han character

東 (đông, đang)