奴

奴 U+5974, 奴 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5974 ← 女 [U+5973] CJK Unified Ideographs 奵 → [U+5975]

Translingual

Han character

奴 (radical 38, 女+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 女水 (VE), four-corner 4744₀, composition ⿰女又)

Derived characters

• 怒 努

Descendants

• ぬ
• ヌ

References

• KangXi: page 254, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6039
• Dae Jaweon: page 517, character 3
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1024, character 7
• Unihan data for U+5974

---

Chinese

simp. and trad.		奴

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 奴
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (女) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
	Old Chinese
拿	*rnaː
拏	*rnaː
詉	*rnaː
蒘	*rnaː, *na
笯	*rnaː, *naː, *naːs
挐	*rnaː, *na
絮	*rnaːs, *nas, *snas, *nas
呶	*rnaːw
怓	*rnaːw
帑	*n̥ʰaːŋʔ, *naː
奴	*naː
砮	*naː, *naːʔ
駑	*naː
孥	*naː
努	*naːʔ
弩	*naːʔ
怒	*naːʔ, *naːs
袽	*na
帤	*na
女	*naʔ, *nas
籹	*naʔ
恕	*hnjas
如	*nja, *njas
茹	*nja, *njaʔ, *njas
洳	*nja, *njas
鴽	*nja
蕠	*nja
汝	*njaʔ
肗	*njaʔ

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 女 (“woman”) + 又 (“hand”) – a hand capturing and ordering a woman around. 女 (OC *naʔ, *nas) may also be phonetic.

Some oracle bone script forms (not depicted above) are pictographic (象形), showing a person (probably a woman) with hands crossed at the back, as opposed to 女 which depicts a woman clasping her hands in front of the body.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nú (nu²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄨˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): nou⁴
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): nù / nùng
• Min Bei (KCR): nû
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): lô͘ / nô͘

  (Teochew, Peng'im): nou⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: nú
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄨˊ
    • Wade–Giles: nu²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nu
    • IPA ^(key): /nu³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: nou⁴
    • Yale: nòuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: nou⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: nou⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /nou̯²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: nù / nùng
    • Hakka Romanization System: nuˇ / nungˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: nu² / nung²
    • IPA: /nu¹¹/, /nuŋ¹¹/
• Min Bei
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: nû
    • IPA ^(key): /nu³³/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, mainstream Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lô͘
    • Tâi-lô: lôo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: loo
    • IPA (Xiamen, Quanzhou, Taipei): /lɔ²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /lɔ²³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /lɔ¹³/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: nô͘
    • Tâi-lô: nôo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: noo
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /nɔ̃¹³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: nou⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: nôu
    • IPA ^(key): /nou⁵⁵/

---

• Dialectal data▼

Variety	Location	edit 奴
Mandarin	Beijing	/nu³⁵/
	Harbin	/mu²⁴/
	Tianjin	/nu⁴⁵/
	Jinan	/mu⁴²/
	Qingdao	/nu⁴²/
	Zhengzhou	/nu⁴²/
	Xi'an	/nou²⁴/
	Xining	/nv̩²⁴/
	Yinchuan	/nu⁵³/
	Lanzhou	/lu⁵³/
	Ürümqi	/mu⁵¹/
	Wuhan	/nəu²¹³/
	Chengdu	/nu³¹/
	Guiyang	/nu²¹/
	Kunming	/nu³¹/
	Nanjing	/lu²⁴/
	Hefei	/lu⁵⁵/
Jin	Taiyuan	/nəu¹¹/
	Pingyao	/nəu¹³/
	Hohhot	/nəu³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/nu²³/
	Suzhou	/nəu³¹/
	Hangzhou	/no²¹³/
	Wenzhou	/nɤu³¹/
Hui	Shexian	/lu⁴⁴/
	Tunxi	/ləu⁴⁴/
Xiang	Changsha	/ləu¹³/
	Xiangtan	/nəɯ¹²/
Gan	Nanchang	/lu⁴⁵/
Hakka	Meixian	/nu¹¹/
	Taoyuan	/mu¹¹/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/nou²¹/
	Nanning	/nu²¹/
	Hong Kong	/nou²¹/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/lɔ³⁵/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/nu⁵³/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/nu³³/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/nõu⁵⁵/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/nu³¹/ /nɔu³¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: /nuo/▼

Rime
Character	奴
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	泥 (8)
Final (韻)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	乃都切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/nuo/
Pan Wuyun	/nuo/
Shao Rongfen	/no/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/nɔ/
Li Rong	/no/
Wang Li	/nu/
Bernard Karlgren	/nuo/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	nú

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*nˤa/

  (Zhengzhang): /*naː/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	奴
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	nú
Middle Chinese	‹ nu ›
Old Chinese	/*nˤa/
English	slave
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	奴
Reading #	1/1
No.	9600
Phonetic component	女
Rime group	魚
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	奴
Old Chinese	/*naː/

Definitions

奴

1. slave; servant
2. (polite) I
3. (derogatory) a person associated with a particular identity or trait
4. to enslave

Synonyms

• (I):

Compounds

Derived terms from 奴

• 乾奴才／干奴才
• 五奴
• 亡國奴／亡国奴
• 入主出奴
• 劉寄奴／刘寄奴 (liújìnú)
• 匈奴 (Xiōngnú)
• 匈奴入侵
• 千頭橘奴／千头橘奴
• 史奴比 (Shǐnúbǐ)
• 名利奴
• 呼奴使婢
• 奚奴
• 女奴
• 奴僕／奴仆 (núpú)
• 奴儕／奴侪
• 奴化
• 奴哥
• 奴奴
• 奴婢 (núbì)
• 奴子
• 奴家
• 奴工
• 奴廝兒／奴厮儿
• 奴役 (núyì)
• 奴從／奴从
• 奴性 (núxìng)
• 奴戮
• 奴才 (núcái)
• 奴書／奴书

• 奴材
• 奴產子／奴产子
• 奴胎
• 奴脣婢舌／奴唇婢舌
• 奴視／奴视
• 奴輩／奴辈
• 奴隸／奴隶 (núlì)
• 奴顏婢睞／奴颜婢睐
• 奴顏婢膝／奴颜婢膝
• 奴顏媚骨／奴颜媚骨
• 婢膝奴顏／婢膝奴颜
• 守財奴／守财奴 (shǒucáinú)
• 守錢奴／守钱奴
• 官奴
• 家奴 (jiānú)
• 家生奴
• 小奚奴
• 崑崙奴／昆仑奴
• 崑崙奴傳／昆仑奴传
• 平頭奴子／平头奴子
• 引光奴
• 忤奴
• 木奴
• 橘奴
• 洋奴
• 烏舅金奴／乌舅金奴
• 燭奴／烛奴
• 牧豬奴戲／牧猪奴戏

• 狂奴故態／狂奴故态
• 田舍奴
• 看錢奴／看钱奴
• 美麗奴羊／美丽奴羊
• 老奴
• 耕當問奴／耕当问奴
• 臊羯奴
• 花奴羯鼓
• 荔奴
• 荔枝奴 (lìzhīnú)
• 蠻奴／蛮奴
• 豪奴
• 農奴／农奴 (nóngnú)
• 農奴制度／农奴制度 (nóngnú zhìdù)
• 逃奴
• 酪奴
• 金奴
• 金奴銀婢／金奴银婢
• 錫奴／锡奴
• 阿奴
• 雁奴
• 青奴
• 飛奴／飞奴
• 馬奴／马奴
• 馬奴法典／马奴法典
• 騶奴／驺奴
• 黑奴 (hēinú)
• 龜奴／龟奴

---

Japanese

Kanji

奴

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. a thing, an object; (derogatory, familiar) a person

Readings

• Goon: ぬ (nu)^{←ぬ (nu, historical)}
• Kan’on: ど (do, Jōyō)^{←ど (do, historical)}
• Kun: やっこ (yakko, 奴); やつ (yatsu, 奴); め (me, 奴)
• Nanori: ぬい (nui)

Pronunciation 1

Kanji in this term
奴
やつ Grade: S
kun’yomi

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [ja̠t͡sɨᵝ]

Noun

奴 (hiragana やつ, katakana ヤツ, rōmaji yatsu)

1. (colloquial, impolite) fellow, chap, guy

Pronoun

奴 (hiragana やつ, katakana ヤツ, rōmaji yatsu)

1. (colloquial, impolite) he, she
   • 1988 July 30 [Jul 25 1984], Fujiko F. Fujio, “おれ、夕ゆう子こ [I, Yūko]”, in ポストの中の明日 [Post-Mid-Tomorrow] (藤子不二雄少年SF短編集; 2), volume 2 (fiction, in Japanese), 10th edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 65:

     解 (かい)説 (せつ)者 (しゃ)はたしかに中 (なか)身 (み)まで女だったと断 (だん)言 (げん)した。きくなり、おれはヤツをぶんなぐった。

     Kaisetsusha wa tashika ni nakami made onna datta to dangenshita. Kiku nari, ore wa yatsu o bunnagutta.

     The commentator asserted that all my ins and outs had completely turned female. Upon hearing that, I just knocked him to the ground.

Usage notes

• This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone, as ヤツ.

Pronunciation 2

Kanji in this term
奴
やっこ Grade: S
kun’yomi

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [ja̠k̚ko̞]

Noun

奴 (hiragana やっこ, rōmaji yakko)

1. servant, valet, footman

Pronunciation 3

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [me̞]

Suffix

奴 (hiragana め, rōmaji -me)

1. Derogatory suffix attached to people's names or words that refer to people, animals, etc.

   ばか奴 (め)！

   Baka-me!

   Idiot!

   • Леонид Андреев (Leonid Andrejev) (translator 森鴎外), 犬 (Кусака (Kusaka))

     「来 (こ)いといったら来 (こ)い。シュッチュカ奴 (め)。馬 (ば)鹿 (か)な奴 (やつ)だ。己 (おの)れはどうもしやしない。」[1]

     “Koi to ittara koi. Shutchuka-me. Baka na yatsu da. Onore wa dōmo shi ya shinai.”

     "If I say come, come. Silly Zhuchka. You fool. I won't do anything to you."

---

Korean

Hanja

奴 • (no) (hangeul 노)

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

---

Vietnamese

Han character

奴 (nô, no, nó, nọ)

1. (colloquial) he, she, it

Usage notes

• Chữ Nôm.
• This is the common form of this character. The regular form is 伮.
• The term is de facto used to refer to any animal (including the human) in the third person, in a disrespectful manner. The use of the term to translate the English it, or to refer to an inanimate object, is rather artificial, and mostly found in awkward (but common) translation of other languages.

References

• www.chunom.org