語

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See also: 语
語 U+8A9E, 語
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8A9E
← 誝
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 誟 →

Translingual

Stroke order
14 strokes

Han character

語 (Kangxi radical 149, 言+7, 14 strokes, cangjie input 卜口一一口 (YRMMR), four-corner 01661, composition ⿰訁吾)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 1163, character 8
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 35533
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1628, character 2
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3974, character 9
  • Unihan data for U+8A9E

Chinese

trad. 語
simp. 语

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (五) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
吾 *ŋraː, *ŋaː
衙 *ŋraː, *ŋa, *ŋaʔ
鼯 *ŋaː
浯 *ŋaː
珸 *ŋaː
郚 *ŋaː
齬 *ŋaː, *ŋa, *ŋaʔ
鯃 *ŋaː
娪 *ŋaː
梧 *ŋaː
峿 *ŋaː
五 *ŋaːʔ
伍 *ŋaːʔ
寤 *ŋaːs
啎 *ŋaːs
晤 *ŋaːs
悟 *ŋaːs
逜 *ŋaːs
窹 *ŋaːs
捂 *ŋaːs
鋙 *ŋa, *ŋaʔ
語 *ŋaʔ, *ŋas
圄 *ŋaʔ
敔 *ŋaʔ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ŋaʔ, *ŋas) : semantic 言 + phonetic 吾 (OC *ŋraː, *ŋaː).

Etymology

Compare Tibetan ངག (ngag, “speech”).

According to Schuessler (2007), 言 (OC *ŋan, “to speak; speech; talk”) is 語 (OC *ŋaʔ) with a nominal n-suffix.

Pronunciation 1

Note:
  • General Taiwanese:
    • gí/gú - vernacular;
    • gú - literary.
Note: 3gniur / 3gniunnr - see 語兒.
Rime
Character 語
Reading # 1/2
Initial (聲) 疑 (31)
Final (韻) 魚 (22)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 魚巨切
Baxter ngjoX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ŋɨʌX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ŋiɔX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ŋiɔX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ŋɨə̆X/
Li
Rong 		/ŋiɔX/
Wang
Li 		/ŋĭoX/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ŋi̯woX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		yǔ
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		jyu5
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 語
Reading # 1/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		yǔ
Middle
Chinese 		‹ ngjoX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋ(r)aʔ/
English speak

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * 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 語
Reading # 1/2
No. 13159
Phonetic
component 		五
Rime
group 		魚
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		語
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋaʔ/

Definitions

語

  1. to speak; to say
  2. (of an animal) to chirp; to hoot
  3. speech; language
  4. (linguistics) spoken language (contrary to written language 文)
  5. expression; words
  6. saying; proverb; set phrase
  7. movement or signal which transmits information
  8. chirping; tweet

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Rime
Character 語
Reading # 2/2
Initial (聲) 疑 (31)
Final (韻) 魚 (22)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 牛倨切
Baxter ngjoH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ŋɨʌH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ŋiɔH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ŋiɔH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ŋɨə̆H/
Li
Rong 		/ŋiɔH/
Wang
Li 		/ŋĭoH/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ŋi̯woH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		yù
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		jyu6
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 語
Reading # 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		yù
Middle
Chinese 		‹ ngjoH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋ(r)aʔ-s/
English tell

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * 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 語
Reading # 2/2
No. 13165
Phonetic
component 		五
Rime
group 		魚
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		御
Old
Chinese 		/*ŋas/

Definitions

語

  1. † to tell; to inform

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (語):
  • → Japanese: 語(ご) (go)
  • → Korean: 어(語) (eo)
  • → Vietnamese: ngữ (語)

References

Japanese

Kanji

語

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Compounds

Etymology

Kanji in this term
語
ご
Grade: 2
goon
Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

From Middle Chinese 語 (MC ngjoX).

Pronunciation

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

When used as a suffix, the resulting word is always heiban.

Noun

語(ご) • (go) 

  1. (linguistics) a word, term
    Synonyms: 言葉 (kotoba), 単語 (tango)
  2. a proverb
    Synonyms: 諺 (kotowaza), 成句 (seiku)

Derived terms

Derived terms

Suffix

語(ご) • (-go) 

  1. language of, -ese, -ish
    日(に)本(ほん)語(ご) ― nihongo ― Japanese
    英(えい)語(ご) ― eigo ― English
    スペイン語(ご) ― supeingo ― Spanish

Derived terms

Derived terms

Affix

語(ご) • (go) 

  1. talk, speak
  2. word, language, term
  3. Short for 物語 (monogatari): story, tale, narrative

Derived terms

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 語 (MC ngjoX).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 ᅌᅥᆼ〯 (Yale: ngě)
Middle Korean
Text Eumhun
Gloss (hun) Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527 말〯ᄉᆞᆷ〮 (Yale: mǎlsóm) 어〯 (Yale: ě)

Pronunciation

  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key):
  • Phonetic hangul:
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

語 (eumhun 말씀 어 (malsseum eo))

  1. hanja form? of 어 (“language of; -ese; -ish”)

Compounds

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

語: Hán Việt readings: ngữ[1][2][3]
語: Nôm readings: ngỡ[1][2][3][4], ngửa[1][2][3][4], ngữ[1][2][3], ngứa[1][3], ngợ[3][4], gỡ[1]

  1. chữ Hán form of ngữ (“language”).
  2. Nôm form of ngỡ (“to think that”).

Compounds

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Nguyễn (2014).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Nguyễn et al. (2009).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Trần (2004).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hồ (1976).
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