任天堂

Chinese

		to assign; to appoint; office to assign; to appoint; office; responsibility	heaven; paradise
trad. (任天堂)		任	天堂
simp. #(任天堂)		任	天堂

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 任天堂 (Nintendō).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Rèntiāntáng

  (Zhuyin): ㄖㄣˋ ㄊㄧㄢ ㄊㄤˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jam⁶ tin¹ tong⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Rèntiāntáng
    • Zhuyin: ㄖㄣˋ ㄊㄧㄢ ㄊㄤˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Rèntiantáng
    • Wade–Giles: Jên⁴-tʻien¹-tʻang²
    • Yale: Rèn-tyān-táng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Renntiantarng
    • Palladius: Жэньтяньтан (Žɛnʹtjanʹtan)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʐən⁵¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ tʰɑŋ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jam⁶ tin¹ tong⁴
    • Yale: yahm tīn tòhng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jam⁶ tin¹ tong⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: yem⁶ tin¹ tong⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐm²² tʰiːn⁵⁵ tʰɔːŋ²¹/

Proper noun

任天堂

1. Nintendo (Japanese video game company)

See also

• 任地獄／任地狱 (Rèndìyù)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
任	天	堂
にん Grade: 5	てん Grade: 1	どう Grade: 5
goon

Alternative spelling
ニンテンドー

Etymology

According to Hiroshi Yamauchi, the company name is derived from the phrase 運を天に任せる (un o ten ni makaseru, literally “leave luck to heaven”).

Other sources suggest the word 天 (ten, literally “heaven”) is the first character of 天狗 (tengu), a kind of monster in Japanese folklore which is sometimes connected to gambling and may therefore be a reference to the company’s initial product of hanafuda cards, thus yielding an interpretation of the company name as a “temple of trusted cards”.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にんてんどー [nìńtéńdóó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟ĩntẽ̞ndo̞ː]

Proper noun

任(にん)天(てん)堂(どう) • (Nintendō) ^{←にんてんだう (Nintendau)?}

1. Nintendo (video game company)

Descendants

• → Chinese: 任天堂 (Rèntiāntáng)
• → English: Nintendo

See also

• ファミコン (Famikon)