男

Stroke order

Stroke order (Japan)

男 (Kangxi radical 102, 田+2, 7 strokes, cangjie input 田大尸 (WKS), four-corner 6042₇, composition ⿱田力)

• 侽, 𠲸, 娚, 㭷, 甥, 㽒, 𤳆, 嫐, 嬲, 勇, 莮, 舅, 虜, 𡇨

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 759, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 21730
• Dae Jaweon: page 1169, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2529, character 5
• Unihan data for U+7537

Historical forms of the character 男
Shang	Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 田 (“field”) + 力 (“strength”) – man providing the strength for agricultural and/or other kinds of (physical) labour on a field.

Probably an area word. Compare Proto-Kiranti *nam (“man”), Proto-Monic *k()ɲoom (“young child”), Proto-Wa *h/ʔnm (“young man”), Thai หนุ่ม (nùm, “young man; young”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Wang (1982) connects it to 農 (OC *nuːŋ, “farmer”). Goldin (2021) suggests a connection to 任 (OC *njɯms, “to bear; to be in charge”).

男

1. man; (only of human in Standard Chinese) male

   男人  ―  nánrén  ―  man

   男孩  ―  nánhái  ―  boy

   Coordinate term: 女

2. son

   長男／长男  ―  zhǎngnán  ―  eldest son

3. baron, lowest of the five ranks of Chinese aristocracy (五等爵位) under the Zhou dynasty

   • 冬十有二月，會齊侯、宋公、陳侯、衛侯、鄭伯、許男、滑伯、滕子同盟於幽。邾子克卒。 [MSC, trad.]
     冬十有二月，会齐侯、宋公、陈侯、卫侯、郑伯、许男、滑伯、滕子同盟于幽。邾子克卒。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: Spring and Autumn Annals, circa 5th century BCE

     Dōng shíyǒu'èr yuè, huì Qíhóu, Sònggōng, Chénhóu, Wèihóu, Zhèngbó, Xǔnán, Huábó, Téngzǐ tóngméng yú Yōu. Zhūzǐ Kè zú.

     Winter, 12th month: we met the Marquis of Qi, the Duke of Song, Marquis of Chen, Marquis of Wey, Count of Zheng, Baron of Xu, Count of Hua, Viscount of Teng; we swore an alliance-covenant at You. Viscount Ke of Zhu died.

4. a surname

• 公 (gōng, “male (of animals)”)

• “男”, 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–

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

1. man
2. son
3. baron

• Go-on: なん (nan, Jōyō)^{←なん (nan, historical)←なむ (namu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: だん (dan, Jōyō)^{←だん (dan, historical)←だむ (damu, ancient)}
• Kun: おとこ (otoko, 男, Jōyō)^{←をとこ (wotoko, 男, historical)}、お (o, 男)^{←を (wo, 男, historical)}、おのこ (onoko, 男)
• Nanori: いさみ (isami)、いさむ (isamu)、おと (oto)^{←をと (woto, historical)}

⟨woto₂ko₁⟩ → */wotəkʷo/ → /wotoko/ → /otoko/

From Old Japanese.

Derived from おと (oto, “young?”, cognate with Old Japanese 復つ (wotu → otsu, “to become young again”)) +‎ 子 (ko, “child”).

Compare 少女 (otome, “young woman”).

• (Tokyo) おとこ (Odaka – )^[2][3][1]
• IPA^(key):

• (Kyoto) お​とこ  (Kōki)^[1]

男(おとこ) • (otoko) ^{←をとこ (wotoko)?}

1. a male person

   Antonym: 女 (onna)

2. (specifically) a man, an adult male

   Antonym: 女 (onna)

3. 男, 漢: (specifically) a manly man
4. a male lover

   Synonyms: 愛人 (aijin), 情人 (jōjin, jōnin), 情夫 (jōfu)

5. a manservant

   Synonym: 下男 (genan)

6. a husband

   Synonym: 夫 (otto)

7. (obsolete) an unmarried young man
8. (colloquial) homosexuality

   Synonyms: 男色 (danshoku), 若道 (nyakudō)

• 男(おとこ)の目(め)には糸(いと)を引(ひ)け女(おんな)の目(め)には鈴(すず)を張(は)れ (otoko no me ni wa ito o hike onna no me ni wa suzu o hare)
• 男(おとこ)は度胸(どきょう)女(おんな)は愛嬌(あいきょう) (otoko wa dokyō onna wa aikyō)
• 男(おとこ)は裸(はだか)百貫(ひゃっかん) (otoko wa hadaka-hyakkan)

男(おとこ) • (Otoko) ^{←をとこ (Wotoko)?}

1. a surname

/wo/ → /o/

From Old Japanese.

• 夫
• (male): 雄, 牡

• (Tokyo) お (Atamadaka – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

• (Kyoto) おー  (Kōki – )^[4]

男(お) • (o) ^{←を (wo)?}

1. a man

   Antonym: 女 (me)

   • 711–712, Kojiki, poem 5:

     ...那許曾波(なこそは)遠(を)迩伊麻世婆(にいませば)... [Man'yōgana]

     ...汝(な)こそはをにいませば... [Modern spelling]

     na koso wa o ni imaseba

     (please add an English translation of this example)

2. a husband

   Synonym: 夫 (otto)

   Antonym: 女 (me)

3. a male

   Antonym: 女, 牝, 雌 (me)

4. something large, powerful, or otherwise masculine

Compound of 男 (o, “male”, see above) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 子 (ko, “child”).

• (Tokyo) おのこ (Atamadaka – )^[2][5]
• IPA^(key):

• (Kyoto) お​のこ  (Kōki)^[5]

男(おのこ) • (onoko) ^{←をのこ (wonoko)?}

1. a boy

/nam/ → /namʉ/ → /naɴ/

From Middle Chinese 男 (MC nom).

The 呉音 (goon) reading, so likely the initial borrowing.

• IPA^(key):

男(なん) • (nan) 

1. a man

   Synonym: 男性 (dansei)

2. a son

   Synonyms: 倅 (segare), 息子 (musuko)

• 一(いち)男(なん) (ichinan)

/dam/ → /damʉ/ → /daɴ/

From Middle Chinese 男 (MC nom).

The 漢音 (kan'on) reading, so likely a later borrowing.

• (Tokyo) だん (Atamadaka – )^[6]
• IPA^(key):

• (Kyoto) だ​ん  (Kōki)^[6]

男(だん) • (dan) 

1. a man
2. a son
3. a young man, especially one who reached adulthood

   Synonyms: 壮丁 (sōtei), 若者 (wakamono)

4. (historical) a baron

   Synonym: 男爵 (danshaku)

男(だん) • (Dan) 

1. a male given name

From Middle Chinese 男 (MC nom). Recorded as Middle Korean 남 (nam) (Yale: nam) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

男

Wikisource

男 (eumhun 사내 남 (sanae nam))

1. hanja form^? of 남 (“man”)

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

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: いけが (ikhekha, 男)、うんが (unkha, 男)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *weke + *-ga (“diminutive suffix”).

男(いけが) (ikhekha) 

1. man

From Proto-Ryukyuan *wenga.

男(うんが) (unkha) 

1. man

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: ゐきが (wikiga, 男)、ゆきが (yukiga, 男)、うぅとぅく (wutuku, 男)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *weke + *-ga (“diminutive suffix”).

男(ゐきが) or 男(ゆきが) (wikiga or yukiga) 

1. man

• 男(ゐきが)しーじゃ (wikiga shīja, “older brother”)

Possibly from Japanese 男 (otoko, “man”).

男(うぅとぅく) (wutuku) 

1. (literary) man

• “ゐきが【男】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: いぃんが (yinga, 男)、ゐんが (inga, 男)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *wenga.

男(いぃんが) or 男(ゐんが) (yinga or inga) 

1. man

• “いぃんが・ゐんが【男】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

男: Hán Việt readings: nam^[1][2][3]
男: Nôm readings: nam^[1][2]

1. chữ Hán form of nam (“man; male”).

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: びんが (binga, 男)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *wenga.

• IPA^(key): /biŋɡa/

男(びんが) (binga) 

1. man

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: をぅいが (ōiga, 男)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *weke + *-ga (“diminutive suffix”).

男(をぅいが) (ōiga) 

1. man