南

Stroke order

南 (Kangxi radical 24, 十+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 十月廿十 (JBTJ), four-corner 4022₇, composition ⿱十⿵冂𢆉)

• 㑲, 㓓, 喃, 𡎜, 婻, 𪩂, 㣮, 揇, 湳, 暔, 腩, 楠, 煵, 遖, 䊖, 䋻(䌾), 蝻, 諵, 𨂾, 𨡯, 𨩇, 𠄼, 献, 𢆥, 𦣰, 萳, 罱, 䈒

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 157, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2750
• Dae Jaweon: page 357, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 65, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5357

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 南 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 南 (Cantonese)
• 南 (Gan)
• nàm (Hakka)
• 南 (Wu)

Historical forms of the character 南
Shang	Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Ancient script	Small seal script

This character has been explained as a pictogram (象形) of a hanging percussion instrument, originally identical to the left side of 㱿. Under this hypothesis its borrowing for the word “south” is difficult to explain.

Sagart (1988) instead proposes that it is a pictogram of the front of a house. Archaeological evidence confirms that in antiquity, at least in some regions, houses were built to face south.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-nam (“sky, sun”) (STEDT; Schuessler (2007); Benedict (1972)); the south is traditionally associated with the sun & light, compare 陽 (OC *laŋ, “light, sun-lit south-side of a hill”).

If so, cognate with Tibetan གནམ (gnam, “sky”), ནམ (nam, “night”), Tshangla ngam (“sun, noon, day, sky”), Chepang न्‍याम् (nyam, “sun, sunlight, storm-cloud, weather”).

Alternatively, Sagart (2004) relates this word to Old Chinese *nɨm (revised to *nˤm in 2014) "belly, front of the body", further "south" to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nam (“rib(s)”), as one term for one body-part often shifts its meaning to another body-part nearby.

If so, 南 is cognate with 妊 (OC *njɯms, “to carry inside one's belly → to be pregnant”), 任 (OC *njɯm, *njɯms, “to carry a burden, especially in front of the body”), also 腩 (OC *nuːmʔ, “belly (of an ox)”), Southern Pumi nõ⁵⁵, Burmese နံရိုး (nam-rui:, “side of the body, rib”), and thus is a semantic counterpart to 北 (OC *pɯːɡ, “north”), which is related to 背 (OC *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs, “back of the body”).

南

1. south; southern

• (compass points) 方位;

西北 (xīběi)	北	東北 / 东北 (dōngběi)
西 (xī)		東 / 东 (dōng)
西南 (xīnán)	南	東南 / 东南 (dōngnán)

Others:

• → Japanese: 南(ナン) (nan, “south wind (mahjong tile)”)

南

1. Only used in 南無／南无 (nāmó).

• “南”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: なん (nan, Jōyō)^{←なん (nan, historical)←なむ (namu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: だん (dan)^{←だん (dan, historical)←だむ (damu, ancient)}
• Kan’yō-on: な (na, Jōyō ^†)
• Kun: みなみ (minami, 南, Jōyō)
• Nanori: あけ (ake)、なみ (nami)、は (ha)、みな (mina)、みまみ (mimami)、よし (yoshi)

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

南

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Minami

Wikipedia

⟨mi₁nami₁⟩ → */mʲinamʲɨ/ → /minami/

From Old Japanese.

• (Tokyo) みなみ (Heiban – )^[1][2]
• IPA^(key):

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

• (Kyoto) みなみ (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

• (Kagoshima) みなみ (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

南(みなみ) • (minami) 

1. the south (cardinal point)
   • c. 762, Shōsōin Man'yōgana Monjo^[3]

     和可夜之奈比乃可波利爾波(わがやしなひのかはりには)、於保末之末須(おほまします)、美奈美(みなみ)乃末知奈流(のまちなる)奴(やつこ)乎宇氣與止(をうけよと)... [Man'yōgana]

     我(わ)が養(やしな)ひの代(かは)りには、おほ坐(ま)します、南(みなみ)の街(まち)なる奴(やつこ)を受(う)けよと... [Modern spelling]

     waga yashinai no kawari ni wa, ōmashimasu, minami no machi naru yatsuko o ukeyo to...

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   Antonym: 北 (kita)

2. a southerly, south wind

   Synonym: 南風 (minamikaze, hae)

   Antonym: 北 (kita)

• (compass points) 方角 (hōgaku);

北西 (hokusei) 西北 (seihoku)	北 (kita)	北東 (hokutō) 東北 (tōhoku)
西 (nishi)		東 (higashi)
西南 (seinan) 南西 (nansei)	南 (minami)	東南 (tōnan) 南東 (nantō)

南(みなみ) or 南(ミナミ) • (Minami) 

1. (historical) the red-light district in modern-day Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo (as it was located south of Edo Castle)
2. the name of a ward in various cities throughout Japan, especially a former ward in the city of Osaka which is now part of Chūō Ward
3. a male given name
4. a female given name
5. a surname

南(みなみ)する • (minami suru) suru (stem 南(みなみ)し (minami shi), past 南(みなみ)した (minami shita))

1. (archaic) to go south
   • 1789, Seikashū (haikai by Takai Kitō)

     紅楓(もみぢ)深(ふか)し、みなみし西(にし)す、水(みづ)の隅(すみ)

     momiji fukashi, minami shi nishi su, mizu no sumi

     (please add an English translation of this example)

/minami/ → /minːami/

Appears in The Pillow Book, completed in 1002.

Alteration of minami.^[1]

• (Tokyo) みんなみ (Heiban – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

南(みんなみ) • (minnami) 

1. (archaic) the south

南(みんなみ) • (Minnami) 

1. (historical, archaic) the red-light district in modern-day Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo

/namʉ/ → /naɴ/

From Middle Chinese 南 (MC nom).

南(なん) • (nan) 

1. the south

   Synonym: 南方 (nanpō)

2. Short for 南鐐 (nanryō): beautiful silver; a type of silver coin in the Edo period

• 南(なん)南(なん)西(せい) (nan-nansei)
• 南(なん)南(なん)東(とう) (nan-nantō)

南(なん) • (nan) 

1. south, southern
2. Used in Sanskrit transliterations

南(なん) • (Nan) 

1. a female given name
2. a surname

From Mandarin 南 (nán).

南(ナン) • (nan) 

1. (mahjong) south wind (mahjong tile)

   Hypernym: 風牌 (kazehai, fanpai)

2. (mahjong) a 役 (yaku, “winning hand”) with a triplet or quad of south wind tiles; depending on wind round and player's seat wind, it is worth either 1 or 2 翻 (han, “doubles”)

   Hypernym: 役牌 (yakuhai, yaku-pai)

• 風(かぜ)牌(ハイ) (kazehai, “wind tiles”): 東(トン) (ton, “east wind”), 南(ナン) (nan, “south wind”), 西(シャー) (shā, “west wind”), 北(ペー) (pē, “north wind”)