なお

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spellings
尚 猶 尚お (obsolete) 猶お (obsolete)

/napo/ → /nafo/ → /nawo/ → /nao/

From Old Japanese.

The okurigana spelling 尚(な)お (nao), or more accurately its historical kana usage counterpart 尚(な)ほ (nafo), used to be very common and the de facto standard, but has become obsolete since the introduction of modern kana usage in 1946. Compare 古(いにしえ) (inishie) and its historically common spelling 古(いにし)へ (inisife).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [na̠o̞]
• (Tokyo) なお [náꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])

Adverb

なお • (nao) ^{←なほ (nafo)?}

1. furthermore, in addition
2. still, as always
3. even (more)
   • 1914, 夏目漱石 [Natsume Sōseki], chapter 42, in こゝろ [Kokoro], 下 先生と遺書 [Sensei's Testament]:

     平生(へいぜい)から無口(むくち)なＫ(ケイ)は、いつもよりなお黙(だま)っていました。

     Heizei kara mukuchi na kei wa, itsumo yori nao damatte imashita.

     K, who was normally reticent, was even quieter than usual.

Conjunction

なお • (nao) ^{←なほ (nafo)?}

1. moreover, furthermore, in addition, note that

Etymology 2

Alternative spelling
直

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [na̠o̞]
• (Tokyo) なお [nàó] (Heiban – [0])

Adjective

なお • (nao) ^{←なほ (nafo)?†}-nari

1. common, ordinary, straight

Adverb

なお • (nao) ^{←なほ (nafo)?}

1. normally, usually

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of なお – see the following entries.

【奈緒】 [proper noun] a female given name

【直緒】 [proper noun] a female given name

【奈央】 [proper noun] a female given name

【奈穂】 [proper noun] a female given name

【南朋】 [proper noun] a unisex given name

(This term, なお (nao), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as なお, see Category:Japanese kanji read as なお.