東

See also: 东 and 柬

Translingual

Stroke order

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)

Descendants

• 棟, 重, 凍, 涷, 蝀, 鶇 (鸫)

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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Chinese

		-
trad.		東
simp.		东

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dōng (dong¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄨㄥ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): dung¹
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): tûng
• Min Nan (POJ): tang / tung
• Wu (WT Romanisation): ton (T1)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: dōng
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄨㄥ
    • Wade-Giles: tung¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dong
    • IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵⁵/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: dung¹
    • Yale: dūng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dung¹
    • IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tûng
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /tuŋ²⁴/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tang / tung
    • Tâi-lô: tang / tung
    • IPA (Taipei): /taŋ⁴⁴/, /tuŋ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /taŋ³⁴/, /tuŋ³⁴/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: ton (T1)
    • IPA ^(key): /tʊŋ⁵³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (東, reconstructed)
Character (東), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 端 (5) Final: 東 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 德紅切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/tuŋ/	/tuŋ/	/tuŋ/	/tuŋ/	/təwŋ/	/tuŋ/	/tuŋ/

Old Chinese pronunciation (東, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
東								dōng								‹ tuwng ›								/*tˤoŋ (< *tˤoŋʔ ?)/								east
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
東					2435					東					東					0					東					/*toːŋ/					種（種籽）初文，甲金文象種皮甲坼萌生根芽，參敕字陳字注

Noun

東

1. east, eastern, eastward
2. host

   做東／做东 ("to be host")

3. landlord, owner

   房東／房东 ("landlord")

   股東／股东 ("shareholder")

Coordinate terms

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

Compounds

Derived terms

東半球 東北 東奔西跑 東邊，東邊兒 東部 東窗事發 東床 東倒西歪 東道 東道主 東渡 東方 東非 東風 東風吹馬耳 東宮 東家 東京 東經 東拉西扯 東鱗西爪 東盟 東面, 東面兒 東南 東南亞 東挪西借 東歐 東跑西顛 東拼西湊 東坡肉 東三省 東山再起 東施效顰 東逃西竄 東塗西抹 東西 東…西… 東廂房 東鄉族 東亞 東洋 東洋車 東搖西擺。 東一榔頭，西一棒子 東瀛 東張西望 東正教

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Japanese

Kanji

東

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. east

Readings

• Goon: つう (tsū) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’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

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​.

• 1997 May 2, Hideaki Horiuchi; Ken Akiyama, Taketori Monogatari , Ise Monogatari, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4-00-240017-4:

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Korean

Hanja

東 (dong)
Eumhun:

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

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

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Compounds

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

東 (đông, đang, tông)

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