腦

See also: 脳 and 脑

Translingual

Traditional	腦
Shinjitai	脳
Simplified	脑

Han character

腦 (Kangxi radical 130, 肉+9, 13 strokes, cangjie input 月女女田 (BVVW), four-corner 7226₃, composition ⿰⺼𡿺)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 988, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29681
• Dae Jaweon: page 1440, character 32
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2100, character 7
• Unihan data for U+8166

---

Chinese

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
腦	*nuːʔ, *nuːs
惱	*nuːʔ
瑙	*nuːʔ
匘	*nuːʔ
碯	*nuːʔ
硇	*rnuː
𣳦	*rnuː

Originally 匘, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 匕 + 巛 (“hair”) + 囟 (“head; fontanel”). 匕 was later replaced with 肉 (“flesh”).

Etymology 1

trad.		腦
simp.		脑
alternative forms		匘

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəw-k. Cognate with Burmese ဦးနှောက် (u:hnauk), Nuosu ꀑꆊ (o not, “brain”), Jingpho nu' (“brain”), Drung unu (“brain; mind”), Japhug tɯrnoʁ, S'gaw Karen ခိၣ်နူာ် (khoh̀noọ, “brain”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nǎo (nao³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): nou⁵
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): nó
• Eastern Min (BUC): nō̤
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): náu / nó͘ / ló

  (Teochew, Peng'im): nao² / lo²

• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁶nau

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: nǎo
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: nǎo
    • Wade–Giles: nao³
    • Yale: nǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nao
    • Palladius: нао (nao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: nǎor
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄠˇㄦ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: nǎor
    • Wade–Giles: nao³-ʼrh
    • Yale: nǎur
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: naol
    • Palladius: наор (naor)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /naʊ̯ɻʷ²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: nou⁵
    • Yale: nóuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: nou⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: nou⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nou̯¹³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: nó
    • Hakka Romanization System: no`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: no³
    • Sinological IPA: /no³¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: nō̤
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nˡo³³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: náu
    • Tâi-lô: náu
    • Phofsit Daibuun: nao
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /nãu⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /nãu⁵³/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: nó͘
    • Tâi-lô: nóo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: nor
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /nɔ̃⁵⁵⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ló
    • Tâi-lô: ló
    • Phofsit Daibuun: loir
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /lo⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /lo⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /lɤ⁴¹/

Note:

• Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taiwan:
  • náu - vernacular;
  • ló - literary.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: nao² / lo²
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: náu / ló
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nau⁵²/, /lo⁵²/

Note:

• nao2 - literary;
• lo2 - vernacular.

• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁶nau
    • MiniDict: nau^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³nau
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /nɔ²³/

---

• Middle Chinese: nawX

Rime
Character	腦
Reading #	1/2
Initial (聲)	泥 (8)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	奴晧切
Baxter	nawX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/nɑuX/
Pan Wuyun	/nɑuX/
Shao Rongfen	/nɑuX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/nawX/
Li Rong	/nɑuX/
Wang Li	/nɑuX/
Bernard Karlgren	/nɑuX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	nǎo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	nou5

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*nˤ[u]ʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*nuːʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	腦
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	nǎo
Middle Chinese	‹ nawX ›
Old Chinese	/*nˁ[u]ʔ/
English	brain
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	腦
Reading #	1/2
No.	9370
Phonetic component	匘
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	堖
Old Chinese	/*nuːʔ/
Notes	見左傳，說文作匘

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 腦

1. (anatomy) brain (Classifier: 個／个 m c)
2. head
3. brains; mind

   唔使用腦諗／唔使用脑谂 [Cantonese]  ―  m⁴ sai² jung⁶ nou⁵ nam² [Jyutping]  ―  no need to use one's brains

4. ^† to smash one's head
5. ^† core; central part
6. brain-like object or substance

   豆腐腦／豆腐脑  ―  dòufunǎo  ―  tofu pudding

7. (Chinese) Short for 電腦／电脑 (diànnǎo, “computer”). (Classifier: 部 c)

Etymology 2

trad.		腦
simp.		脑

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nào (nao⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄠˋ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: nào
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄠˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: nào
    • Wade–Giles: nao⁴
    • Yale: nàu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: naw
    • Palladius: нао (nao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nɑʊ̯⁵¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: nawH

Rime
Character	腦
Reading #	2/2
Initial (聲)	泥 (8)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	那到切
Baxter	nawH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/nɑuH/
Pan Wuyun	/nɑuH/
Shao Rongfen	/nɑuH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/nawH/
Li Rong	/nɑuH/
Wang Li	/nɑuH/
Bernard Karlgren	/nɑuH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	nào
Expected Cantonese Reflex	nou6

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*nuːs/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	腦
Reading #	2/2
No.	9375
Phonetic component	匘
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	腝
Old Chinese	/*nuːs/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 腦

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

---

Japanese

Shinjitai	脳
Kyūjitai	腦

Kanji

腦

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 脳)

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

Readings

• On (unclassified): のう (nō); どう (dō)

---

Korean

Hanja in this term
腦

Noun

腦 • (noe) (hangeul 뇌)

1. Hanja form^? of 뇌 (“brain”).

---

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
腦

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 腦 (não)

Noun

腦

1. Template:han tu form of