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Definition 2024


See also:

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 130 +6, 10 strokes, cangjie input 戈月心心 (IBPP), four-corner 21211, composition匕)

Derived characters

References

  • KangXi: page 981, character 16
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29454
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1433, character 11
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2074, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+80FD

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*n̥ʰɯːs
*nɯː, *nɯːs, *nɯːŋ, *nɯːŋʔ
*nɯːs
*nɯːs

Pictogram (象形) : bear. Compare (OC *ɢʷlɯm, “bear”).

Etymology

“Be able to; can; ability”. Shijing rhymes point to Old Chinese *, but the forms with * are also archaic (perhaps ancient dialectal variation?).

Possibly Sino–Tibetan: compare Tibetan ནུས་པ (nus pa, be able to; capable; to withstand; capacity; strength; force; power; function; energy), Burmese နိုင် (nuing, can, be able to, may; master; win; prevail). Schuessler (2007) also derives (OC *n̥ʰɯːs, “apparition, bearing, manner”) from this.

Compare the old Sino–Vietnamese loanword nổi (be able to; capable).

Pronunciation 1



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /nəŋ³⁵/
Harbin /nəŋ²⁴/
Tianjin /nəŋ⁴⁵/
Jinan /nəŋ⁴²/
Qingdao /nəŋ⁴²/
Zhengzhou /nəŋ⁴²/
Xi'an /nəŋ²⁴/
Xining /nə̃²⁴/
Yinchuan /nəŋ⁴⁴/ 打~~
/nəŋ⁵³/ ~幹
Lanzhou /lə̃n⁵³/
Ürümqi /nɤŋ⁵¹/
Wuhan /nən²¹³/
Chengdu /nən³¹/
Guiyang /nen²¹/
Kunming /nə̃³¹/
Nanjing /lən²⁴/
Hefei /lən⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /nəŋ¹¹/
Pingyao /nəŋ¹³/
Hohhot /nə̃ŋ³¹/
Wu Shanghai /nəŋ²³/
Suzhou /nən¹³/
Hangzhou /nen²¹³/
Wenzhou /naŋ³¹/
Hui Shexian /lʌ̃⁴⁴/
Tunxi /lɛ⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /lən¹³/
Xiangtan /nən¹²/
Gan Nanchang /lɛn⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /nen¹¹/
Taoyuan /nen¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /nɐŋ²¹/
Nanning /nɐŋ²¹/
Hong Kong /nɐŋ²¹/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /liŋ³⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /nɛiŋ⁵³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /naiŋ²¹/
Shantou (Min Nan) /leŋ⁵⁵/
Haikou (Min Nan) /neŋ³¹/
/nɔŋ³¹/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
Initial () (8) (8) (8) (8)
Final () (41) (129) (129) (41)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Level (Ø) Rising (X) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open Open Open Open
Division () I I I I
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/nʌi/ /nəŋ/ /nəŋX/ /nʌiH/
Pan
Wuyun
/nəi/ /nəŋ/ /nəŋX/ /nəiH/
Shao
Rongfen
/nɒi/ /nəŋ/ /nəŋX/ /nɒiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/nəj/ /nəŋ/ /nəŋX/ /nəjH/
Li
Rong
/nᴀi/ /nəŋ/ /nəŋX/ /nᴀiH/
Wang
Li
/nɒi/ /nəŋ/ /nəŋX/ /nɒiH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/nɑ̆i/ /nəŋ/ /nəŋX/ /nɑ̆iH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
nái néng něng nài
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/3 2/3 3/3
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
néng néng néng
Middle
Chinese
‹ noj › ‹ nong › ‹ nong ›
Old
Chinese
/*nˤə/ /*nˤə(ŋ)/ /*nˤə(ʔ)/ (~ *nˤəŋ)
English a kind of bear a kind of bear able; ability

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 # 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4
No. 9411 9413 9415 9416
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0 0 0 0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*nɯː/ /*nɯːs/ /*nɯːŋ/ /*nɯːŋʔ/

Definitions

  1. A mythological bear-like animal, with deer-like legs.
  2. able; capable
  3. can; to be able to; to be capable of
       néng pǎo de kuài.   I can run fast.
  4. may
  5. rather; would rather
  6. ability; capability
       néng   capability, ability
  7. talent; talented person
       cáinéng   talent, ability
  8. energy; power
  9. A surname. Neng

Compounds

Pronunciation 2



Rime
Character
Reading # 4/4
Initial () (8)
Final () (41)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () I
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/nʌiH/
Pan
Wuyun
/nəiH/
Shao
Rongfen
/nɒiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/nəjH/
Li
Rong
/nᴀiH/
Wang
Li
/nɒiH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/nɑ̆iH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
nài

Definitions

  1. Alternative form of (nài, “to bear; to withstand”).
  2. A surname.

Pronunciation 3


Definitions

  1. Alternative form of (“name of a Chinese constellation”).
       sāntái   Santai (Chinese constellation)

Pronunciation 4


Definitions

  1. Alternative form of (tài, “bearing; apparition; form; shape; status; position”).

Pronunciation 5



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/4
Initial () (8)
Final () (41)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () I
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/nʌi/
Pan
Wuyun
/nəi/
Shao
Rongfen
/nɒi/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/nəj/
Li
Rong
/nᴀi/
Wang
Li
/nɒi/
Bernard
Karlgren
/nɑ̆i/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
nái

Definitions

  1. A three-legged soft-shelled turtle.

Pronunciation 6


Definitions

  1. Only used in 能始 (“origin, root cause”).

Pronunciation 7


Definitions

  1. Alternative form of (xióng, “bear”).

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. ability
  2. talent
  3. skill
  4. capacity

Readings

Compounds

Noun

(hiragana のう, romaji )

  1. Noh, a form of classical Japanese musical drama.
  2. Ability, capacity, aptitude.
  3. Effect, use.
     (ふる)議論 (ぎろん) () (かえ)しても (のう)はないのだよ。
    Furui giron o kurikaeshite mo wa nai no da yo.
    Repeating old arguments isn't of any use / won't have any effect.

Synonyms

  • (drama): 能楽 (のうがく) (nōgaku)

Korean

Hanja

(neung, nae) (hangeul , , McCune-Reischauer nŭng, nae, Yale nung, nay)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

(năng, hay, nấng, năn, nằng, nưng)

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