無

Translingual

Stroke order (cursive)

The character 無 in cursive script.

Wikipedia

Etymology

Simplified from 舞 (elimination of 舛) – removal of 舛 (character used for sound). (Compare 可 from 奇.)

Source character meaning “dance”, top component graphically originally a figure with outstretched arms holding two animal hides: 革 + 大 + 革.

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

無 (radical 86 火+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 人廿火 (OTF), four-corner 8033₁)

1. negative, no, not
2. lack, have no

References

• KangXi: page 673, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19113
• Dae Jaweon: page 1081, character 24
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2211, character 15
• Unihan data for U+7121

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Chinese

		-
trad.		無
simp.		无

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wú (wu²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄨˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mou⁴
• Min Nan (POJ): bû / bô

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: wú
    • Zhuyin: ㄨˊ
    • Wade-Giles: wu²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: wu
    • IPA ^(key): /u³⁵/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: mou⁴
    • Yale: mòuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mou⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /mou̯²¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bû / bô
    • Tâi-lô: bû / bô
    • IPA (Taipei): /bu²³/, /bə²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bu¹³/, /bə¹³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (無, reconstructed)
Character (無), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 明 (4) Final: 虞 Division: III			Openness: Closed Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 武夫切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/mɨo/	/mi̯u/	/mio/	/mio/	/muə̆/	/mĭu/	/mio/

Old Chinese pronunciation (無, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
無								wú								‹ mju ›								/*ma/								not have
無								wú								‹ mju ›								/*ma/								volitional prefix
無								wú								‹ mju ›								/*mo/								don’t
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
無					13117					無					魚					0					無					/*ma/

Adverb

無

1. not
2. no, none, nothing

Verb

無

1. to not have, to lack

Pronunciation

• (Quanzhou) IPA^(key): [ bo˧˥ ]
• (Zhangzhou) IPA^(key): [ bə˧˥ ]

Compounds

• 無家可歸
• 無神論
• 無題
• 無所謂
• 無我

See also

• (Mandarin) 沒有 (méiyǒu)

References

• (Min Nan) Taiwan Min Nan Common Words Dictionary (臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典)

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Japanese

Kanji

無

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. nothingness
2. none
3. ain't
4. nothing
5. nil
6. not

Readings

• Goon: む (mu)
• Kan’on: ぶ (bu)
• Tōon: も (mo)
• Kun: な.い (無い, na.i)

Compounds

Compounds

無明 (むみょう) (mumyō): unenlightment; ignorance of nirvana 神無月 (かんなづき) (kannazuki): (archaic) the tenth month of the lunar calendar 無形 (むぎょう) (mugyō): formlessness, bodylessness; something shapeless and invisible 無形 (むけい) (mukei): intangibility; incorporeality 無見 (むけん) (muken): the belief that everything in this world is completely null and void, with no substance 無名 (むめい) (mumei): nameless, anonymous, unsigned; anonymity 無用 (むよう) (muyō): futility; uselessness 無機 (むき) (muki): inorganic

無双 (むそう) (musō): matchless, peerless 苦無 (くない) (kunai): a kunai 無月 (むげつ) (mugetsu): when the moon is not visible due to rain or some other reason 無精 (ぶしょう) (bushō): laziness 無力 (むりょく) (muryoku): powerless; incompetent 無力感 (むりょくかん) (muryokukan): a feeling of powerlessness 無意識 (むいしき) (muishiki): unconscious, unconsciousness 無限 (むげん) (mugen): infinity; limitless; unlimited 無人 (ぶにん) (bunin): uninhabited, unmanned

Kanji in this term

無

む Grade: 4

on'yomi

Noun

無 (hiragana む, romaji mu)

1. nothing, nothingness
2. (Buddhism): The null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or other question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer).

Prefix

無 (hiragana む, romaji mu-)

1. non-, un-

無 (hiragana ぶ, romaji bu-)

1. non-, un-
2. poor

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Korean

Hanja

Yakja (略字, simplified cursive) form of 無.

無 (mu) (hangeul 무, revised mu, McCune-Reischauer mu, Yale mu)

1. 무 (mu, “nothing”)
2. 무 (mu, “no”)
3. (Buddhism) 무 (mu, “neither yes nor no”) (in response to a koan or a question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer)

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Vietnamese

Han character

無 (vô, mô, thủy)

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