九

See also: 玖 and 丸

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

Pictogram (象形) – a stylized hand, with bent wrist/forearm (hence the hook stroke at lower right). Earlier forms resemble 手, 寸.

九 is meant to symbolize a fist tightening to bump up against something; thus, there is a metaphorical bumping up of nine against ten, which is the the last number when counting on one's fingers.

Original meaning was elbow (now 肘).

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

九 (radical 5 乙+1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 大弓 (KN), four-corner 4001₇, composition ⿰乙丿)

1. nine

Related characters

• 丸

See also

• (Chinese written numbers): 〇  一  二  三  四  五  六  七  八  九  十
• (Chinese financial form): 玖

References

• KangXi: page 83, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 167
• Dae Jaweon: page 168, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 48, character 5
• Unihan data for U+4E5D

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Cantonese

Etymology

From Old Chinese *k^wyu^?, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *t-kua (compare Classical Tibetan dgu)

Hanzi

九 (Jyutping gau2, Yale gau2)

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Hakka

Hanzi

九 (POJ kíu, Guangdong kiu³; kieu³ [Hong Kong], Hagfa Pinyim giu3)

References

• CCDICT (Chineselanguage.org)
• Academia Sinica - Hakka-English Dictionary
• Lau, Chun-fat. Hakka Pinyin Dictionary (Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997 (Chinese IME supplement) ISBN 962-201-750-9.

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Japanese

Kanji

九

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. nine

Readings

• Goon: く (ku)
• Kan’on: きゅう (kyū), (historical) きう (kiu)
• Kun: ここの (kokono), ここのつ (九つ, kokonotsu)
• Nanori: いちじく (ichijiku), いちのく (ichinoku), この (kono), ひさし (hisashi)

Compounds

Compounds

九夏 (きゅうか, kyūka): 九官鳥 (きゅうかんちょう, kyūkanchō): a mina or mynah bird 九牛一毛 (きゅうぎゅういちもう, kyū gyū ichi mō): nine cows one hair (a drop in the ocean) 九九, 九々 (くく, kuku): Multiplication table 九月 (くがつ, kugatsu): September 九死 (きゅうし, kyūshi): near death, nearly dead, a close shave 九州 (きゅうしゅう, Kyūshū): the Kyūshū region of Japan 九重 (ここのえ, kokonoe): 九寸五分 (くすんごぶ, kusun gobu): a short sword, a dagger 九星 (きゅうせい, kyūsei): 九折 (きゅうせつ, kyūsetsu): 九泉 (きゅうせん, kyūsen): the nether world 九地 (きゅうち, kyūchi): 九天 (きゅうてん, kyūten): the Ninth Heaven (the highest of heavens) 九拝 (きゅうはい, kyūhai): 九分 (くぶ, kubu): 九輪 (くりん, kurin): 九六 (くんろく, kunroku):

Etymology 1

Japanese cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : 九

From Early Middle Chinese. Goon, the initial reading when first borrowed into Japanese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• IPA^(key): /ku/, [kɯᵝ]

Alternative forms

• 玖

Number

九 (hiragana く, romaji ku)

1. nine
2. ninth

Noun

九 (hiragana く, romaji ku)

1. nine
2. the ninth

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese. Kan'on, a later reading. Borrowed after palatalisation occurred in Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• IPA^(key): /kju.u/, [kjɯᵝː]

• Audio

  (file)

Number

九 (hiragana きゅう, historical hiragana きう, romaji kyū)

1. nine

Noun

九 (hiragana きゅう, historical hiragana きう, romaji kyū)

1. nine
2. an indeterminate large number, a myriad, a great many
3. (divination) the number of yang, in opposition to 六 (roku, “six”) as the number of yin

Alternative forms

• (large number): 究

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): /ko.ko.no/, [ko̞ko̞no̞]

Counter

九 (hiragana ここの, romaji -kokono)

1. nine

Etymology 4

/kokono/ → /kono/

Abbreviation of Old Japanese kokono (“nine”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ko̞no̞]

Number

九 (hiragana この, romaji kono)

1. nine

   ひい、ふう、みい、…なな、やあ、この、とお

   hī, fū, mī, ... nana, yā, kono, tō

   one, two, three, ... seven, eight, nine, ten

Alternative forms

• この

Usage notes

Generally only used when counting out loud, as in the example above. In writing, usually found spelled out in hiragana as この to make the reading unambiguous.

References

• The Japan Times (March 17, 2010). You can count on the tales behind number-kanji. Accessed March 23, 2010.

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Korean

Hanja

九 (gu)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 구 (revised: gu, McCune-Reischauer: ku, Yale: kwu)

• Name (hangeul): 아홉 (revised: ahop, McCune-Reischauer: ahop, Yale: ahop)

1. nine

Compounds

• 正九品
• 從九品
• 重九
• 九重
• 九月
• 九輪
• 九冬
• 九九
• 九泉
• 九官鳥
• 九天
• 九界
• 九經
• 九族

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Mandarin

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Hanzi

九 (Pinyin jiǔ (jiu3), xiǎng (xiang3), xiàng (xiang4), Wade-Giles chiu³, hsiang³, hsiang⁴), jiū

Compounds

• 九一八事变 (九一八事變)

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Middle Chinese

Han character

九 (*gioǔ, gioǔ)

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Min Nan

Hanzi

九 (traditional, POJ kiú, káu, kiáu)

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Vietnamese

Han character

九 (cửu)

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Wu

Hanzi

Latin Alphabet: juˇ Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄐ一ㄡˇ 九