央

See also: 中

央 U+592E, 央 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-592E ← 夭 [U+592D] CJK Unified Ideographs 夯 → [U+592F]

Translingual

Han character

央 (Kangxi radical 37, 大+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 中月大 (LBK), four-corner 5003₀, composition ⿻冂大 or ⿻𠀃人)

Derived characters

• 佒, 坱, 抰, 咉, 岟, 泱, 㹧, 怏, 姎, 柍, 殃, 映, 胦, 炴, 眏, 䄃, 秧, 䘧, 紻, 軮, 詇, 𧲱, 鉠 (𫓭), 鞅, 䬬, 駚 (𩧫), 䱀
• 㿮, 䒋, 英, 䇦, 雵, 𦁾, 㼜, 盎, 𩢥, 鴦 (鸯)

References

• KangXi: page 249, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5840
• Dae Jaweon: page 508, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 524, character 6
• Unihan data for U+592E

Chinese

trad.		央
simp. #		央

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 央
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (央) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
鴦	*qaːŋ, *qaŋ
佒	*qaːŋ
咉	*qaːŋ, *qaːŋʔ
眏	*qaːŋ
姎	*qaːŋ, *qaːŋʔ
坱	*qaːŋʔ
映	*qaːŋʔ, *qraŋs
泱	*qaːŋʔ, *qaŋ
盎	*qaːŋʔ, *qaːŋs
駚	*qaːŋʔ, *qaŋʔ
軮	*qaːŋʔ
醠	*qaːŋʔ, *qaːŋs
央	*qaŋ
秧	*qaŋ, *qaŋʔ
殃	*qaŋ
鞅	*qaŋ, *qaŋʔ, *qaŋs
鉠	*qaŋ, *qraŋ
雵	*qaŋ
胦	*qaŋ, *qroːŋ
柍	*qaŋʔ
詇	*qaŋʔ, *qaŋs, *qraŋs
岟	*qaŋʔ
炴	*qaŋʔ
怏	*qaŋʔ, *qaŋs
紻	*qaŋʔ
英	*qraŋ
瑛	*qraŋ
霙	*qraŋ
韺	*qraŋ
媖	*qraŋ
渶	*qraŋ
鶧	*qraŋ
楧	*qraŋ
暎	*qraŋs

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 大 (“man”) + 冂 (“pole”) - a man carrying a pole with its middle on his shoulder.

Etymology

於 (OC ʔa) plus terminative suffix *-ŋ, hence literally "to get to be in the middle" (Schuessler, 2007). See 於 (OC ʔa) for further etymology.

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yāng (yang¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄤ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): joeng¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): yông / ông
• Min Dong (BUC): iŏng
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): iong / iang / ng

  (Teochew, Peng'im): iang¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yāng
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄤ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yang
    • Wade–Giles: yang¹
    • Yale: yāng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: iang
    • Palladius: ян (jan)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɑŋ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: joeng¹
    • Yale: yēung
    • Cantonese Pinyin: joeng¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: yêng¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jœːŋ⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yông / ông
    • Hakka Romanization System: iong´ / ong´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yong¹ / ong¹
    • Sinological IPA: /i̯oŋ²⁴/, /oŋ²⁴/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yông / ông
    • Hakka Romanization System: (r)iong´ / ong´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yong¹ / ong¹
    • Sinological IPA: /(j)i̯oŋ²⁴/, /oŋ²⁴/

Note:

• yông - literary;
• ông - vernacular (limited, e.g. 中央).

Min Dong

• (Fuzhou)
  • Bàng-uâ-cê: iŏng
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /yoŋ⁵⁵/

Min Nan

• (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, General Taiwanese)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: iong
  • Tâi-lô: iong
  • Phofsit Daibuun: iofng
  • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /iɔŋ⁴⁴/
  • IPA (Quanzhou): /iɔŋ³³/
• (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: iang
  • Tâi-lô: iang
  • Phofsit Daibuun: iafng
  • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /iaŋ⁴⁴/
• (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ng
  • Tâi-lô: ng
  • Phofsit Daibuun: ngf
  • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /ŋ̍⁴⁴/
  • IPA (Quanzhou): /ŋ̍³³/

Note:

• iong - literary;
• iang - literary (all sense in Zhangzhou, “to beg” in Xiamen and mainstream Taiwanese);
• ng - vernacular (limited, e.g. 中央).

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: iang¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: iang
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /iaŋ³³/

---

• Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 央
Mandarin	Beijing	/iɑŋ⁵⁵/
	Harbin	/iaŋ⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/iɑŋ²¹/
	Jinan	/iaŋ²¹³/
	Qingdao	/iaŋ²¹³/
	Zhengzhou	/iaŋ²⁴/
	Xi'an	/iaŋ²¹/
	Xining	/iɔ̃⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/iɑŋ⁴⁴/
	Lanzhou	/iɑ̃³¹/
	Ürümqi	/iɑŋ⁴⁴/
	Wuhan	/iaŋ⁵⁵/
	Chengdu	/iaŋ⁵⁵/
	Guiyang	/iaŋ⁵⁵/
	Kunming	/iã̠⁴⁴/
	Nanjing	/iaŋ³¹/
	Hefei	/iɑ̃²¹/
Jin	Taiyuan	/iɒ̃¹¹/
	Pingyao	/iɑŋ¹³/
	Hohhot	/iɑ̃³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/iã⁵³/
	Suzhou	/iã⁵⁵/
	Hangzhou	/ʔiɑŋ³³/
	Wenzhou	/j̠i³³/
Hui	Shexian	/ia³¹/
	Tunxi	/iau¹¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/ian³³/
	Xiangtan	/ian³³/
Gan	Nanchang	/iɔŋ⁴²/
Hakka	Meixian	/ioŋ⁴⁴/
	Taoyuan	/oŋ²⁴/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/jœŋ⁵³/
	Nanning	/jœŋ⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/jœŋ⁵⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/iɔŋ⁵⁵/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/yoŋ⁴⁴/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/iɔŋ⁵⁴/ /ɔŋ⁵⁴/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/iaŋ³³/ /ŋ³³/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/iaŋ²³/ /o²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: /ʔɨɐŋ/

Rime
Character	央
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)
Final (韻)	陽 (105)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	於良切
Baxter	'jang
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔɨɐŋ/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔiɐŋ/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔiɑŋ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔɨaŋ/
Li Rong	/ʔiaŋ/
Wang Li	/ĭaŋ/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʔi̯aŋ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yāng
Expected Cantonese Reflex	joeng1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*ʔaŋ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*qaŋ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	央	央
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	yāng	yāng
Middle Chinese	‹ ʔjang ›	‹ ʔjang ›
Old Chinese	/*ʔaŋ/	/*ʔaŋ/
English	end (v.)	center (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	央
Reading #	1/1
No.	14488
Phonetic component	央
Rime group	陽
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	央
Old Chinese	/*qaŋ/

Definitions

央

1. center; middle
2. to end; to finish
3. to beg; to plead; to implore
4. (alt. form 殃) calamity; disaster
5. a surname

Pronunciation 2

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yīng (ying¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄥ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yīng
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ying
    • Wade–Giles: ying¹
    • Yale: yīng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ing
    • Palladius: ин (in)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /iŋ⁵⁵/

---

• Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 央
Mandarin	Beijing	/iɑŋ⁵⁵/
	Harbin	/iaŋ⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/iɑŋ²¹/
	Jinan	/iaŋ²¹³/
	Qingdao	/iaŋ²¹³/
	Zhengzhou	/iaŋ²⁴/
	Xi'an	/iaŋ²¹/
	Xining	/iɔ̃⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/iɑŋ⁴⁴/
	Lanzhou	/iɑ̃³¹/
	Ürümqi	/iɑŋ⁴⁴/
	Wuhan	/iaŋ⁵⁵/
	Chengdu	/iaŋ⁵⁵/
	Guiyang	/iaŋ⁵⁵/
	Kunming	/iã̠⁴⁴/
	Nanjing	/iaŋ³¹/
	Hefei	/iɑ̃²¹/
Jin	Taiyuan	/iɒ̃¹¹/
	Pingyao	/iɑŋ¹³/
	Hohhot	/iɑ̃³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/iã⁵³/
	Suzhou	/iã⁵⁵/
	Hangzhou	/ʔiɑŋ³³/
	Wenzhou	/j̠i³³/
Hui	Shexian	/ia³¹/
	Tunxi	/iau¹¹/
Xiang	Changsha	/ian³³/
	Xiangtan	/ian³³/
Gan	Nanchang	/iɔŋ⁴²/
Hakka	Meixian	/ioŋ⁴⁴/
	Taoyuan	/oŋ²⁴/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/jœŋ⁵³/
	Nanning	/jœŋ⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/jœŋ⁵⁵/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/iɔŋ⁵⁵/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/yoŋ⁴⁴/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/iɔŋ⁵⁴/ /ɔŋ⁵⁴/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/iaŋ³³/ /ŋ³³/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/iaŋ²³/ /o²³/

Definitions

央

1. ^†Only used in 央央.

Compounds

• 中央 (zhōngyāng)
• 中央政府 (zhōngyāng zhèngfǔ)
• 公央婆
• 夜未央
• 央中
• 央人
• 央人作伐
• 央元音 (yāngyuányīn)
• 央厄 (yāng'è)
• 央及 (yāngjí)
• 央告 (yānggào)
• 央塔克 (Yāngtǎkè)
• 央央
• 央央插插

• 央媒
• 央托
• 央求 (yāngqiú)
• 央浼
• 央行 (yāngháng)
• 央靠
• 投央
• 未央 (wèiyāng)
• 死告活央
• 震央 (zhènyāng)
• 中央大學／中央大学
• 中央山脈／中央山脉 (Zhōngyāng Shānmài)
• 中央銀行／中央银行 (zhōngyāng yínháng)
• 中央集權／中央集权 (zhōngyāng jíquán)

• 中央黨部／中央党部
• 央央戧戧／央央戗戗
• 央帶／央带
• 央戧／央戗
• 央浼營幹／央浼营干
• 央煩／央烦
• 央託／央托 (yāngtuō)
• 央請／央请
• 念央兒／念央儿
• 未央宮／未央宫 (Wèiyāng Gōng)
• 東央西告／东央西告
• 無央／无央
• 長樂未央／长乐未央

Japanese

Kanji

央

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: おう (ō, Jōyō); よう (yō)
• Kan-on: よう (yō); えい (ei)
• Kun: なかば (nakaba, 央ば)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
央
おう Grade: 3
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 央 (MC ʔɨɐŋ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [o̞ː]

Affix

央(おう) • (ō) ^{←あう (au)?}

1. centre, middle
2. (US) Short for 央州 (“Oregon (a state of the United States)”).

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 震央(しんおう) (shin'ō)
• 中央(ちゅうおう) (chūō)

Proper noun

央(あたる) • (Ataru) 

1. a male given name

央(おう) • (Ō) 

1. a male given name

央(とおる) • (Tōru) 

1. a male given name

央(なかば) • (Nakaba) 

1. a male given name

央(ひさし) • (Hisashi) 

1. a male given name

央(ひろし) • (Hiroshi) 

1. a male given name

央(よう) • (Yō) 

1. a male given name

Korean

Hanja

央 • (ang) (hangeul 앙, revised ang, McCune–Reischauer ang)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

央: Hán Nôm readings: ương, trân

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.