九

See also: 玖 and 丸

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

Pictogram (象形) – a stylized hand, with bent wrist/forearm (hence the hook stroke at lower right). Earlier forms resemble 手, 寸. The original meaning of the glyph was "elbow", which is now written 肘.

After the meaning "elbow" was forgotten, 九 was taken to symbolize a fist tightening to bump up against something; thus, there is a metaphorical bumping up of nine against ten, which is the the last number when counting on one's fingers.

Historical forms of the character 九
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
Oracle bone script j29822 j29823 j29824 j29825 j29826 j29827 j29828 j29829 j29830 j29831 j29832 j29833 j29834 j29835 j29836 j29837 j29838 j29839 j29840 j29841 j29842 j29843 j29844 j29845 j29846 j29847 j29848 j29849 j29850 j29851 Bronze inscriptions b19923 b19924 b19925 b19926 b19927 b19928 b19929 b19930 b19931 b19932 b19933 b19934 b19935 b19936 b19937 b19938 b19939 b19940 b19941 b19942 b19943 b19944 b19945 b19946 b19947 b19948 b19949 b19950 b19951 b19952 b19953 b19954 b19955 b19956 b19957 Small seal script s10923 Transcribed ancient scripts L35389 L35390 L35391 L35392 L35393 L18222 L18223 L18224 L18225 L18226 L18227 L18228 L18229 L18230 L18231 L18232
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Characters in the same phonetic series (九) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
尻	*kʰuː
訄	*kʰuː, *kʰu, *ɡu
艽	*krɯːw, *qʰrɯːw, *ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
虓	*qʰruː
鳩	*ku
勼	*ku
九	*kuʔ
究	*kus
仇	*ɡu
鼽	*ɡu
犰	*ɡu
叴	*ɡu
厹	*ɡu
頄	*ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
朹	*ɡu, *kʷrɯwʔ
馗	*ɡu, *ɡʷrɯw
扏	*ɡu
訅	*ɡu
釚	*ɡu
肍	*ɡu
軌	*kʷrɯwʔ
宄	*kʷrɯwʔ
氿	*kʷrɯwʔ
匭	*kʷrɯwʔ
泦	*kuɡ
旭	*qʰʷoɡ

Han character

九 (Kangxi radical 5, 乙+1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 大弓 (KN), four-corner 4001₇, composition ⿰乙丿)

Related characters

• 丸

See also

Chinese numbers
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	102	103	104	106	108	1012
Normal (小寫／小写)	〇, 零, 空	一, 蜀	二, 兩／两	三	四	五	六	七	八	九	十	百	千	萬／万, 十千 (Malaysia, Singapore)	百萬／百万, 桶(Philippines), 面桶 (Philippines)	億／亿	兆 (Taiwan) 萬億／万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial (大寫／大写)	零	壹	貳／贰	參／叁	肆	伍	陸／陆	柒	捌	玖	拾	佰	仟

• (Chinese financial form): 玖

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 83, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 167
• Dae Jaweon: page 168, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 48, character 5
• Unihan data for U+4E5D

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		九

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Chinese *kuʔ, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d/s-kəw (compare Classical Tibetan dgu)

Numeral

1. nine

See also

Chinese numbers
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	102	103	104	106	108	1012
Normal (小寫／小写)	〇, 零, 空	一, 蜀	二, 兩／两	三	四	五	六	七	八	九	十	百	千	萬／万, 十千 (Malaysia, Singapore)	百萬／百万, 桶(Philippines), 面桶 (Philippines)	億／亿	兆 (Taiwan) 萬億／万亿 (Mainland China)
Financial (大寫／大写)	零	壹	貳／贰	參／叁	肆	伍	陸／陆	柒	捌	玖	拾	佰	仟

Compounds

• 九一八事变 (九一八事變)

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Japanese

Kanji

九

(grade 1 kyōiku kanji)

1. nine

Readings

• Go-on: く (ku)
• Kan-on: きゅう (kyū), (historical) きう (kiu)
• Kun: ここの (kokono), ここのつ (九つ, kokonotsu)
• Nanori: いちじく (ichijiku), いちのく (ichinoku), この (kono), ひさし (hisashi)

Compounds

Compounds

• 九夏 (きゅうか, kyūka):
• 九官鳥 (きゅうかんちょう, kyūkanchō): a mina or mynah bird
• 九牛一毛 (きゅうぎゅういちもう, kyū gyū ichi mō): nine cows one hair (a drop in the ocean)
• 九九, 九々 (くく, kuku): Multiplication table
• 九月 (くがつ, kugatsu): September
• 九死 (きゅうし, kyūshi): near death, nearly dead, a close shave
• 九州 (きゅうしゅう, Kyūshū): the Kyūshū region of Japan
• 九重 (ここのえ, kokonoe):
• 九寸五分 (くすんごぶ, kusun gobu): a short sword, a dagger
• 九星 (きゅうせい, kyūsei):
• 九折 (きゅうせつ, kyūsetsu):
• 九泉 (きゅうせん, kyūsen): the nether world
• 九地 (きゅうち, kyūchi):
• 九天 (きゅうてん, kyūten): the Ninth Heaven (the highest of heavens)
• 九拝 (きゅうはい, kyūhai):
• 九分 (くぶ, kubu):
• 九輪 (くりん, kurin):
• 九六 (くんろく, kunroku):

Etymology 1

Japanese cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : 九

From Early (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Chinese. Goon, the initial reading when first borrowed into Japanese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): /ku/, [kɯᵝ]

Alternative forms

• 玖

Number

九(く) or 九(numeral symbol) • (ku or numeral symbol) [[Category:Japanese
|く]]

1. nine
2. ninth

Noun

九(く) • (ku) 

1. nine
2. the ninth

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Chinese. Kan'on, a later reading. Borrowed after palatalisation occurred in Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): /kju.u/, [kjɯᵝː]
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter)

  Audio:

  (file)

Number

九(きゅう) or 九(numeral symbol) • (kyū or numeral symbol) ^{←きう (kiu)?}[[Category:Japanese
|きゅう]]

1. nine

Noun

九(きゅう) • (kyū) ^{←きう (kiu)?}

1. nine
2. an indeterminate large number, a myriad, a great many
3. (deprecated template usage) (divination) the number of yang, in opposition to (deprecated template usage) 六 (roku) as the number of yin

Alternative forms

• (large number): 究

Etymology 3

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): /ko.ko.no/, [ko̞ko̞no̞]

Counter

九(ここの) or 九(counter) • (kokono or counter) [[Category:Japanese
|ここの]]

1. nine

Etymology 4

/kokono/ → /kono/

Abbreviation of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Japanese kokono (“nine”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): [ko̞no̞]

Number

九(この) or 九(numeral symbol) • (kono or numeral symbol) [[Category:Japanese
|この]]

1. nine

Alternative forms

• この

Usage notes

Generally only used when counting out loud, as in the example above. In writing, usually found spelled out in hiragana as この to make the reading unambiguous.

References

• The Japan Times (March 17, 2010). You can count on the tales behind number-kanji. Accessed March 23, 2010.

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Korean

Hanja

九 • (gu)

• Eumhun:
  • Sound (hangeul): 구 (revised: gu, McCune–Reischauer: ku, Yale: kwu)
  • Name (hangeul): 아홉
    (revised: ahop, McCune–Reischauer: ahop, Yale: ahop)

1. nine

Compounds

• 正九品
• 從九品
• 重九
• 九重
• 九月
• 九輪
• 九冬
• 九九
• 九泉
• 九官鳥
• 九天
• 九界
• 九經
• 九族

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Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 九 (cửu)

1. (deprecated template usage) (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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Wu

Hanzi

Latin Alphabet: juˇ Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄐ一ㄡˇ

九 (⁵cieu)

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