午

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See also: 牛 and 干
午 U+5348, 午
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5348
← 升
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 卉 →

Translingual

Stroke order
4 strokes
Stroke order

Han character

午 (Kangxi radical 24, 十+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 人十 (OJ) or 難人十 (XOJ), four-corner 80400, composition ⿱𠂉十 or ⿰丿干)

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 156, character 4
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2703
  • Dae Jaweon: page 354, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 406, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+5348

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 午

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 午
Shang Western Zhou Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (午) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
卸 *sŋjaːs
汻 *hŋaːŋʔ
滸 *hŋaːʔ
午 *ŋaːʔ
仵 *ŋaːʔ
旿 *ŋaːʔ
忤 *ŋaːs
迕 *ŋaːs
杵 *ŋ̊ʰjaʔ
籞 *ŋaʔ
蘌 *ŋaʔ
篽 *ŋaʔ
禦 *ŋaʔ, *ŋas
許 *hŋaʔ
御 *ŋas

Pictogram (象形) – a pestle (now written 杵). Unrelated to 干.

Etymology 1

Norman (1985) proposed connection with Austroasiatic; Ferlus (2013) noted a "ood correspondence" between Proto-Vietic *m-ŋəːʔ (whence Vietnamese ngựa) and Old Chinese reconstructions like *m-qʰˁaʔ (Baxter-Sagart) and *ᵀs.ŋaʔ (Ferlus). Also compare Proto-Hlai *hŋaːʔ (“horse”), Proto-Kra *ŋja C (“horse”).

Alternatively, Smith (2011) proposed 午 (OC *ŋaːʔ)'s cognacy with 啎 (OC *ŋaːs) "to meet head on" and 御 (OC *ŋas) "to meet in (battle)" and suggested that "the moon at its full phase opposes the sun directly in the sky, meaning *ŋaaʔ 午 is probably to be glossed, given *-ʔ , ‘facing stage’". Schuessler (2007) regarded 午 (OC ŋâh) "to go against" as a mere graphic variant of 啎 and thus deemed the sense "to go against" distinct from the "earthly branch" sense.

Pronunciation

Note:
  • ngó͘/gó͘ — literary;
  • ngō͘ — popular (俗) variant;
  • gō͘ — chiefly in 午時.
Note:
  • 2u/3hhu - literary;
  • 3ngg - vernacular, used in 端午.
    Rime
    Character 午
    Reading # 1/1
    Initial (聲) 疑 (31)
    Final (韻) 模 (23)
    Tone (調) Rising (X)
    Openness (開合) Open
    Division (等) I
    Fanqie 疑古切
    Baxter nguX
    Reconstructions
    Zhengzhang
    Shangfang         		/ŋuoX/
    Pan
    Wuyun         		/ŋuoX/
    Shao
    Rongfen         		/ŋoX/
    Edwin
    Pulleyblank         		/ŋɔX/
    Li
    Rong         		/ŋoX/
    Wang
    Li         		/ŋuX/
    Bernard
    Karlgren         		/ŋuoX/
    Expected
    Mandarin
    Reflex         		wǔ
    Expected
    Cantonese
    Reflex         		ng5
    Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
    Character 午 午
    Reading # 1/2 2/2
    Modern
    Beijing
    (Pinyin)         		wǔ wǔ
    Middle
    Chinese         		‹ nguX › ‹ nguX ›
    Old
    Chinese         		/*.qʰˁaʔ/ /*m-qʰˁaʔ/
    English 7th earthly branch resist; cross-wise

    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 午
    Reading # 1/1
    No. 13169
    Phonetic
    component         		午
    Rime
    group         		魚
    Rime
    subdivision         		0
    Corresponding
    MC rime         		五
    Old
    Chinese         		/*ŋaːʔ/

    Definitions

    午

    1. the seventh of twelve earthly branches:
      1. (historical or astrology) the seventh year of the Jovian orbital cycle
      2. (archaic) the fifth month of the Chinese traditional calendar
      3. (historical or archaic) the "Chinese" or "double hour" from 11 am to 1 pm
      4. noon (precisely)
    Coordinate terms
    Hypernyms

    Compounds

    Etymology 2

    For pronunciation and definitions of 午 – see 舞 (“to dance; dance; dancing; etc.”).
    (This character is the second-round simplified form of 舞).
    Notes:

    References

    Japanese

    Kanji

    午

    (Second grade kyōiku kanji)

    1. noon

    Readings

    • Go-on: ご (go, Jōyō)
    • Kan-on: ご (go, Jōyō)
    • Kun: うま (uma, 午)

    Etymology 1

    Kanji in this term
    午
    うま
    Grade: 2
    kun'yomi
    Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia ja

    From 馬 (uma, “horse”).

    Pronunciation

    Proper noun

    午(うま) • (Uma) 

    1. the Horse, the seventh of the twelve Earthly Branches
      Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支
      Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

    Etymology 2

    Kanji in this term
    午
    ご
    Grade: 2
    on'yomi

    From Middle Chinese 午 (nguX).

    Proper noun

    午(ご) • (Go) 

    1. the Horse, the seventh of the twelve Earthly Branches
      Hypernyms: 十二支, 地支
      Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

    Korean

    Etymology

    From Middle Chinese 午 (MC nguX).

    Historical Readings
    Dongguk Jeongun Reading
    Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 ᅌᅩᆼ〯 (Yale: ngwǒ)

    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

    午 (eumhun 낮 오 (nat o))

    1. hanja form? of 오 (“noon; daytime”)

    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

    午: Hán Nôm readings: ngọ, ngỏ, ngõ

    1. chữ Hán form of Ngọ (“seventh of the twelve earthly branches”).
      Hypernyms: 地支, 十二支
      Coordinate terms: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥

    Compounds

    Wikious
    Boobota
    Sagapedia