硫黄

See also: 硫黃

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 硫黄 – see 硫黃 (“sulfur; sulphur; S”). (This term is the simplified form of 硫黃).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Japanese

Chemical element (edit)
S Atomic number 16 硫黄
Classification data Period 3 Group 16 Block p-block Class nonmetal
Previous: ← リン (P)
Next: 塩素 (Cl) →

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
硫	黄
いおう
Grade: S	Grade: 2
jukujikun

Alternative spellings
硫黃 (kyūjitai) 硫磺

/juawa/ → /juwau/ → /iwau/ → /iwɔː/ → /iwoː/ → /ioː/

Originally a compound of 湯 (yu, “warm or hot water”) +‎ 泡 (awa, “bubble”), from the way that volcanic hot springs would often be accompanied by bubbles of sulfur gas.

The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun (熟(じゅく)字(じ)訓(くん)), from Chinese 硫黃 / 硫黄 (liúhuáng).

An alternative theory is that the character 硫 (“sulfur”) developed an on'yomi of yu instead of the usual goon of ru or kan'on of ryū, such that the reading is on'yomi. However, given that this particular sound shift is not found in other kanji readings, this derivation seems unlikely.

This is the most common reading for this term in modern Japanese.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [io̞ː]
• (Tokyo) いおー [ìóó] (Heiban – [0])

Noun

硫黄(いおう) • (iō) ^{←いわう (iwau)?}

1. sulfur (element)

Derived terms

• 硫黄(いおう)華(か) (iōka): flowers of sulfur
• 硫黄(いおう)山(やま) (iōyama): sulfur mine
• 硫黄(いおう)泉(せん) (iōsen): sulfur spring
• 硫黄(いおう)島(とう) (iōtō): sulfur island; Iōtō, Japanese island misread as Iwo Jima
• 硫黄(いおう)酸(さん)化(か)物(ぶつ) (iō sankabutsu): sulfur oxide
• 塩(えん)化(かい)硫黄(いおう) (enkai iō): sulfur chloride
• 三(さん)酸(さん)化(か)硫黄(いおう) (sansanka iō): sulfur trioxide
• 石(せっ)灰(かい)硫黄(いおう)合(ごう)剤(ざい) (sekkai iō gōzai): lime sulphur
• 二(に)酸(さん)化(か)硫黄(いおう) (nisanka iō): sulfur dioxide

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
硫	黄
ゆ Grade: S	おう Grade: 2
irregular

Alternative spellings
硫黃 (kyūjitai) 硫磺

/juawa/ → /juwau/ → /juwɔː/ → /juwoː/ → /juoː/

Other than the difference in phonetic shifts, the derivation is the same as for iō above.

This reading is rare, and possibly archaic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jɯ̟o̞ː]
• (Tokyo) ゆおー [yùóó] (Heiban – [0])

Noun

硫(ゆ)黄(おう) • (yuō) ^{←ゆわう (yuwau)?}

1. (rare, possibly archaic) sulfur (element)

References

• “〈硫黄〉”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026