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U+4F55, 何
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4F55

[U+4F54]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+4F56]

Translingual

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Stroke order
0 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

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(Kangxi radical 9, +5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人一弓口 (OMNR), four-corner 21220, composition )

Derived characters

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References

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  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 98, character 15
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 511
  • Dae Jaweon: page 208, character 5
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 130, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+4F55

Chinese

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simp. and trad.
alternative forms ⿰彳可

Glyph origin

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Historical forms of the character
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



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).

In the oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形) : a man carrying something on their shoulder – the original form of (OC *ɡaːlʔ, “to carry”).

The object being carried may have been (), in which case the character is also an ideogrammic compound (會意会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ) : semantic (person) + phonetic (OC *koːl, dagger-axe).

In the bronze inscriptions, some forms of the character were phono-semantic compound (形聲形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ) : semantic (person) + phonetic (OC *kʰaːlʔ), from which the modern form derives.

Etymology

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Cognate with the following interrogative pronouns:

  • (OC *ɡaː, “what; why”)
  • (OC *ɡeː, “what; why; where”)
  • (OC *ɡaːd, “why”)
  • (OC *ɡaːb, “why not”): from the fusion of 何不 (OC *ɡaːl pɯ, “why not”)

In Sino-Tibetan, cognate with Tibetan ག་ན (ga na, where; how), Tibetan ག་རུ (ga ru, to where) (Schuessler, 2007).

STEDT, on the other hand, compares (OC *ɡaːlʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka (which; like; deictic; interrogative), to which (OC *kɯlʔ, “how many”) and (OC *ŋ̊ʰɯlʔ, “how”) are also compared.

Pronunciation 1

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Note:
  • hô/hô͘ - literary (incl. surname);
  • ôa - vernacular.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/2
Initial () (33)
Final () (94)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () I
Fanqie
Baxter ha
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ɦɑ/
Pan
Wuyun
/ɦɑ/
Shao
Rongfen
/ɣɑ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ɦa/
Li
Rong
/ɣɑ/
Wang
Li
/ɣɑ/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ɣɑ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
ho4
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ ha ›
Old
Chinese
/*[ɡ]ˁaj/
English what

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
Reading # 1/2
No. 7458
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ɡaːl/

Definitions

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  1. (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. of something) what; which
      ―  chù  ―  where [lit. what place]
      ―    ―  what day; when
  2. (literary) where; what place
      ―  cóng  ―  what course to follow or take
  3. (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for reason, manner, etc. of an action) why; how
      ―    ―  why must you
      ―    ―  why not
  4. (literary) (forming emphatic sentences) so; such; what; how
  5. a surname
      ―  Yìngqīn  ―  He Yingqin (Kuomintang general)
    鸿 [Cantonese]  ―  ho4 hung4 san1 [Jyutping]  ―  Stanley Ho (Hong Kong billionaire)
Quotations
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Synonyms
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Compounds

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Descendants

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  • English: He, Ho
  • Tagalog: Ho (via Hokkien)

Pronunciation 2

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Rime
Character
Reading # 2/2
Initial () (33)
Final () (94)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () I
Fanqie
Baxter haX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ɦɑX/
Pan
Wuyun
/ɦɑX/
Shao
Rongfen
/ɣɑX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ɦaX/
Li
Rong
/ɣɑX/
Wang
Li
/ɣɑX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ɣɑX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
ho6
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 2/2
No. 7466
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ɡaːlʔ/
Notes

Definitions

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  1. Original form of (“to carry”).

Pronunciation 3

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Definitions

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  1. Original form of (“to scold; to criticise; to denounce”).

References

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Japanese

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Kanji

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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. what

Readings

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Etymology

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Kanji in this term
なに
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *n-anu-.

Pronunciation

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  • (Tokyo) [náꜜnì] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
  • IPA(key): [na̠ɲ̟i]
  • Audio:(file)

Compounds

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Interjection

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(なに) (nani

  1. What?, Huh?

Pronoun

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(なに) (nani (alternative reading hiragana なん, rōmaji nan)

  1. what
  2. that thing (used in place of words you can't remember at the moment.)

Adverb

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(なに) (nani

  1. (in the negative) any, whatsoever, at all
    不自由なくnani fujiyū nakuwithout any inconvenience

Usage notes

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  • is usually read as なに, but before , , , it is read as なん. When followed by , both readings are possible, albeit with different meanings.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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See also

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Prefix

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(なん) (nan-

  1. what number, how many (used with a counter)
  2. (used with ) many (used with a counter)
    この(こう)(こく)(なん)(かい)()
    kono kōkoku o nankai mo mita
    I've seen this ad many times

Derived terms

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Second edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō

Korean

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Etymology

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From Middle Chinese (MC ha).

Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

(eumhun 어찌 (eojji ha))

  1. Hanja form? of (how; what).

Compounds

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References

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  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [2]

Kunigami

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Kanji

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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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(ぬー) (

  1. what

Miyako

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Kanji

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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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(のー) (

  1. what

Okinawan

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Kanji

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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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(ぬー) (

  1. what

Vietnamese

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Han character

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: Hán Nôm readings: , ,

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

References

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Yaeyama

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Kanji

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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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(のー) (

  1. what

Yonaguni

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Kanji

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(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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(ぬー) (

  1. what