北

北 U+2F82B, 北 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F82B ← 匆 CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 卉 →

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北

Stroke order (Japan)

北 (Kangxi radical 21, 匕+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 中一心 (LMP), four-corner 1111₀, composition ⿲⿱一㇀丨匕(GJKV) or ⿰⿱⿰一丨㇀匕(HT))

• 𫩡, 𢫣, 𨸾, 𰞃, 𨀈, 鉳, 𰅋, 𪜜, 邶, 苝, 𠤣, 丠, 㘳, 𠤖, 𢘠, 背, 𠤢, 䉾, 𧉥, 軰, 㼱, 冀
• 乖, 乘, 嬊, 㷼, 燕, 鷰(𬸧), 兠

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 152, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2574
• Dae Jaweon: page 342, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 262, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5317

• Unihan data for U+F963

• Unihan data for U+2F82B

• 北 on Wikidata.Wikidata

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 北 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 北 (Cantonese)
• 北 (Wu)

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

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) – two men back to back. Originally meaning “back”; the character 背 (OC *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs) refers to the original word.

Compare 化, 比, 卬, and 尼.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ba (“to carry (on back), shoulder”).

The sense of “north” is derived from “back (of body)”: “back” → “to turn the back to; to retreat” → “north”.

The ancient Chinese value the southern direction and houses are traditionally oriented along a north-south axis, as evident in the fengshui theory and in the orientation of buildings in Chinese Neolithic sites. North is the direction the back is oriented to when the person is facing south.

Compare the graphical origin of 南 (OC *nuːm, “south”) (Sagart, 1988).

北

1. north; northern

   北移  ―  běi yí  ―  to move north

   北京  ―  Běijīng  ―  Beijing (literally, “northern capital”)

2. to be defeated; to fail

   敗北／败北  ―  bàiběi  ―  to suffer defeat

• (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: 北(ペー) (pē, “north wind (mahjong tile)”)

北

1. ^† Original form of 背 (bèi, “back; to betray”).

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00416
• “Entry #1395”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.
• 莆田市政协文化文史和学习委员会 , editor (2021), “北”, in 莆仙方言大词典 (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 51.

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. north
2. escape, run away

• Go-on: ほく (hoku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ほく (hoku, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: ぺ (pe)
• Kan’yō-on: ぺい (pei)
• Kun: きた (kita, 北, Jōyō)、にげる (nigeru, 北げる)

Attributed to Old Japanese,^[1] although the exact phonetics are not clear, as the term is not cited in phonetic man'yōgana.

Ultimate derivation unknown.

• (Tokyo) きた (Heiban – )^[2][3]
• (Tokyo) きた (Odaka – )^[2][3]
• IPA^(key):

• (Kyoto) きた (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

• (Kagoshima) きた (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

北(きた) • (kita) 

1. north (cardinal point)
   • 905, Kokin Wakashū (book 9, poem 412)

     北(きた)へ行(ゆ)く雁(かり)ぞ鳴(な)くなるつれてこし数(かず)はたらでぞかへるべらなる

     kita e yuku kari zo nakunaru tsurete koshi kazu wa tarade zo kaeruberanaru

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   Antonym: 南 (minami)

2. the North (northern part of a region)
3. a northerly, north wind

   Synonym: 北風 (kitakaze, hokufū)

   Antonym: 南 (minami)

4. Short for 北の方 (kita no kata): northward
5. a developed country

   from the many countries in the Northern Hemisphere are considered developed

• (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)

北(きた) or 北(キタ) • (Kita) 

1. Kita (one of 23 special wards in Tokyo prefecture, Japan)
2. (historical) the red-light district north of Edo Castle

   Synonyms: 北郭 (Hokkaku), 北国 (Hokkoku)

3. a surname
4. a female given name

北(きた)する • (kita suru) suru (stem 北(きた)し (kita shi), past 北(きた)した (kita shita))

1. to go northwards

   Synonym: 北進する (hokushin suru)

From Mandarin 北 (běi).

• IPA^(key):

北(ペー) • (pē) 

1. (mahjong) north wind (mahjong tile)

   Hypernym: 風牌 (kazehai, fanpai)

2. (mahjong) a 役 (yaku, “winning hand”) with a triplet or quad of north 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”)

From Middle Chinese 北 (MC pok).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

北

Wikisource

北 (eumhun 북녘 북 (bungnyeok buk))

1. Hanja form^? of 북 (“north”).

From Middle Chinese 北 (MC bwojH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): ~
• Phonetic hangul:

北 (eumhun 달아날 배 (daranal bae))

1. Hanja form^? of 배 (“to escape; to flee”).

北 • (Buk) (hangeul 북)

1. (in headlines) Short for 北(북)韓(한) (Bukhan, “(South Korea) North Korea”).

A common convention in news headlines, this is almost always written solely in the Hanja form, even in contemporary Korean text otherwise devoid of any Hanja.

• 한 (韓, Han, “(South Korea) South Korea”)

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

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: にし (nishi, 北)

Cognate with mainland Japanese 西 (nishi, “west”).

北(にし) (nishi) 

1. north; northern; northwards

• 北(にし)風(かじ) (nishikaji, “north wind”)

• “ニシ” in Haisai Okinawan Dialect.
• “にし【北】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.
• “ニシ（にし）” in Okinawan Dialect Dictionary - Ajima.
• “にし” in Okinawan Dictionary - KozaWeb.

Unknown.

北 (KITA)

1. north
   • 711–712, Kojiki:

     御陵在畝火山之北方白檮尾上也。

     There was a ridge at the imperial tomb. North of Pi₂yama, a white taowu's tail is at the top.

   • 720, Nihon Shoki:

     今在海北道中 [...]

     Now, in the northern road of the sea

   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 13, poem 3242:

     百岐年三野之國之高北之八十一隣之宮爾

     momoki₁ne mi₁no₁ NO₂ KUNI NO₂ TAKA KITA NO₂ kukuri NO₂ MI₂YA ni

     The palace of Kukuri in the high north of Mino-no-kuni...

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: にし (nisi, 北)

Cognate with mainland Japanese 西 (nishi, “west”).

• IPA^(key):

北(にし) (nisi) 

1. north; northern; northwards

• “にし【北】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

北 (bắc)

1. Nôm form of bắc (“north”).

   佷東北丑寅㐌聀

   Cần đông bắc, sửu dần đạ chắc

   People from everywhere and everywhen knows it all

2. Nôm form of bắc (“net”).

   付許娘㓜北𫠯撰

   Phó hẩư nàng au bắc lồng sỏn

   Hand it over to the lady to bring the net down there and scoop

3. Nôm form of bắc (“step”).

   芮𱒢真敯荣拾北

   Rườn vỉ chăn hôn giùng síp bắc

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

北 (pắc)

1. Nôm form of pắc (“to row”).

   北𱣸斉治过啓大

   Pắc lừa tẻ tấy quá khái đại

   Row the boat to go the other route

• Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày‎ (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội

北: Hán Nôm readings: bắc, bác, bấc, bậc, bước

1. Chữ Hán form of bắc (“north”).

北

1. Sawndip form of byaek (“vegetable”)