弄

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

弄 (Kangxi radical 55, 廾+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 一土廿 (MGT), four-corner 1044₁, composition ⿱王廾)

Derived characters

• 㑝 㛞 㟖 㢅 㳥 哢 挵 梇 𤯨 硦 𠸙 𧋼 𨁦 𥨋 𩩖 𠑋 𡫶 𢌊 𤯩 𤲌 𤿰 𧚠 𥧪 𦡠 𩀳 𪔠 𢌌 筭 𡋱 𡱯 𡷟 𢃈 𢙱 𢚸 𤞬 𨓡 𪫵 𫠯

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 353, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 9596
• Dae Jaweon: page 669, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 515, character 1
• Unihan data for U+5F04

• Unihan data for U+F943

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 弄
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 玉 (“jade”) + 廾 (“hands”) – play with a jade artefact using one's hands.

Etymology 1

Compared with Khmer លួង (luəng, “to console; to cheer; to coax; to flatter”) < Old Khmer lvaṅ (“to cheer, amuse, entertain, divert”) < Pre-Angkorian Khmer loṅ. The Khmer initial consonant does not agree with Old Chinese; perhaps the Khmer word is a post-Han loan (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

Definitions

弄

1. to play with; to play around with; to fiddle with; to fondle

   真的是命運弄人。 [MSC, trad.]
   真的是命运弄人。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhēnde shì mìngyùn nòng rén.

   It must be a quirk of fate.

2. to enjoy; to play
3. trick; magic
4. to make fun of; to tease; to bully
5. to show off; to make a show of
6. (Southern Min) to amuse (a child)
7. (music) to play (a musical instrument); to perform
8. (music) ditty
9. to do; to engage in; to undertake; to deal with
10. to make ... do/become ...; to cause ... to do ...

    他把小孩弄哭了。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

    Tā bǎ xiǎohái nòng kū le.

    He made the kid cry.

11. (colloquial) to cause someone to become pregnant
12. (Southern Min) to shake off; to shake out
13. to marry
14. to investigate; to look into
15. to get; to obtain; to fetch

    你這書哪兒弄的呀。 [MSC, trad.]
    你这书哪儿弄的呀。 [MSC, simp.]

    Nǐ zhè shū nǎr nòng de ya.

    Where did you get the book?

16. to decorate; to dress up; to put on make-up

Compounds

Etymology 2

Possibly from an ancient regional variant of 巷 (OC *ɡroːŋs, “alley”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

弄

1. (historical) lane in palace
2. (regional) alleyway; lane; apartment complex (especially in Shanghai)

   安遠路一八弄／安远路一八弄  ―  Ānyuǎn Lù Yībā Lòng  ―  18 Anyuan Road

Synonyms

Compounds

Etymology 3

Probably from Lingao ȵam¹ (“to play”) (Fu, 2008).

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some! Particularly: “Hainanese”

Definitions

弄

1. (Hainanese, Leizhou Min) to play; to have fun
   • 2014, “O Nai”, in 强哥 [Mr Hiang] (lyrics), Maroon 5 and 强哥 [Mr Hiang] (music), 大海南‎, performed by 强哥 [Mr Hiang]:

     出來弄就毋甭惊食醉make it righ(t) [Hainanese, simp.]
     出來弄就毋甭驚食醉make it righ(t) [Hainanese, trad.]

     If you come out to have fun, no need to be afraid of getting drunk, make it right

Synonyms

Compounds

Further reading

• (Min Nan pronunciation audio) “Entry #3143”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. tamper with

Readings

• Go-on: る (ru)
• Kan-on: ろう (rō, Jōyō)
• Kun: もてあそぶ (moteasobu, 弄ぶ, Jōyō); たわむれる (tawamureru, 弄れる); いじる (ijiru, 弄る); いじくる (ijikuru, 弄る); いらう (irau, 弄う); いろう (irou, 弄う); まさぐる (masaguru, 弄る)

Korean

Hanja

弄 (eumhun 희롱할 롱 (huironghal rong), South Korea 희롱할 농 (huironghal nong))

1. Hanja form^? of 롱/농 (“do, play or fiddle with, joke”).
2. Hanja form^? of 롱/농 (“alley”).
3. Hanja form^? of 롱/농 (“naughty”).

Vietnamese

Han character

弄: Hán Nôm readings: lộng, lóng, lồng, luồng, lòng, lụng, trổng

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