天津

Chinese

		day; sky; heaven	Tianjin; ferry
simp. and trad. (天津)		天	津
Literally: “sky ford”.

Etymology

Tianjin

Disputed. The most common interpretation is that it was bestowed by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming, who crossed Tianjin's Gu River on his way south to overthrow his nephew the Jianwen Emperor, thereby calling it 天子津渡 (“The Emperor's Ford”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Tiānjīn

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): tin¹ zeon¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): Thiên-chîn
• Eastern Min (BUC): Tiĕng-cĭng
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): Thian-tin / Thian-chin

  (Teochew, Peng'im): tiêng¹ zing¹

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹thi-jin

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Tiānjīn
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄢ ㄐㄧㄣ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Tianjin
    • Wade–Giles: Tʻien¹-chin¹
    • Yale: Tyān-jīn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Tianjin
    • Palladius: Тяньцзинь (Tjanʹczinʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡ɕin⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: tin¹ zeon¹
    • Yale: tīn jēun
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tin¹ dzoen¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: tin¹ zên¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰiːn⁵⁵ t͡sɵn⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Thiên-chîn
    • Hakka Romanization System: tien´ jin´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: tian¹ jin¹
    • Sinological IPA: /tʰi̯en²⁴⁻¹¹ t͡sin²⁴/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: Tiĕng-cĭng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰieŋ⁵⁵ ^(t͡s-)ʒiŋ⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Thian-tin
    • Tâi-lô: Thian-tin
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tiendyn
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰiɛn³³ tin³³/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Thian-chin
    • Tâi-lô: Thian-tsin
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tiencyn
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² t͡sin⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ t͡sin⁴⁴/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: tiêng¹ zing¹
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: thieng tsing
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰieŋ³³⁻²³ t͡siŋ³³/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ¹thi-jin
    • MiniDict: thi^平 jin
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹thi-jjin
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /tʰi⁵⁵ d͡ʑin²¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: then tsin

Rime
Character	天	津
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	透 (6)	精 (13)
Final (韻)	先 (85)	眞 (43)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	IV	III
Fanqie	他前切	將鄰切
Baxter	then	tsin
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/tʰen/	/t͡siɪn/
Pan Wuyun	/tʰen/	/t͡sin/
Shao Rongfen	/tʰɛn/	/t͡sjen/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tʰɛn/	/t͡sin/
Li Rong	/tʰen/	/t͡siĕn/
Wang Li	/tʰien/	/t͡sĭĕn/
Bernard Karlgren	/tʰien/	/t͡si̯ĕn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	tiān	jīn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	tin1	zan1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*l̥ˤi[n]|l̥ˤi[n]  [ts]i[n]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*qʰl'iːn  ʔslin/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	天	天	津
Reading #	1/2	2/2	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	tiān	xiān	jīn
Middle Chinese	‹ then ›	‹ xen ›	‹ tsin ›
Old Chinese	/*l̥ˁi[n]/	/*l̥ˁi[n]/ (W dialect: l̥ˁ- > Hàn-time *xˁ- > MC x-)	/*[ts]i[n]/
English	heaven	heaven	ford (n.)
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	天	津
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	12387	6725
Phonetic component	天	津
Rime group	眞	眞
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	天	津
Old Chinese	/*qʰl'iːn/	/*ʔslin/

Proper noun

(deprecated template usage) 天津

1. (～市) Tianjin (a direct-controlled municipality in northern China)
2. the Milky Way
3. Short for 天津橋／天津桥.
4. (Chinese astronomy) Celestial Ford (Galaxy's ferry, a bridge across the Milky Way; an asterism within the Girl constellation)
5. (～社區) Tianjin (a community in Yiyuan, Jiang'an district, Wuhan, Hubei, China)

Derived terms

(deprecated template usage)

---

Japanese

Kanji in this term
天	津
てん Grade: 1	しん Grade: S
on’yomi

Proper noun

天(てん)津(しん) • (Tenshin) 

1. Tianjin, a large city in northern China

Derived terms

• 天津飯

---

Korean

Hanja in this term
天	津

Proper noun

天津 • (Cheonjin) (hangeul 천진)

1. Hanja form^? of 천진 (“Tianjin”).

---

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
天	津

Proper noun

天津

1. chữ Hán form of Thiên Tân (“Tianjin”).