正月

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Chinese

first; principal moon; month
simp. and trad.
(正月)

Etymology

According to Guangyun () and Zhu Xi (朱熹) (), the character here was originally pronounced zhèng (like ); according to Zhang Shoujie (張守節); its special pronunciation zhēng (like ) originated from the naming taboo on Qin Shi Huang's real name (Yíng Zhèng) ().

Sagart (2023) instead proposes that actually here wrote (OC *tek, “one”), in context where the latter's coda *-k had been nasalized by the onset of (OC *ʷat). He reconstructs underlying *tek-ŋʷat, whence *teŋ-ŋʷat, whose appropriate readable form was 正月.

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/1
Initial () (23) (31)
Final () (121) (68)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Closed
Division () III III
Fanqie
Baxter tsyeng ngjwot
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/t͡ɕiᴇŋ/ /ŋʉɐt̚/
Pan
Wuyun
/t͡ɕiɛŋ/ /ŋʷiɐt̚/
Shao
Rongfen
/t͡ɕiæŋ/ /ŋiuɐt̚/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ciajŋ/ /ŋuat̚/
Li
Rong
/t͡ɕiɛŋ/ /ŋiuɐt̚/
Wang
Li
/t͡ɕĭɛŋ/ /ŋĭwɐt̚/
Bernard
Karlgren
/t͡ɕi̯ɛŋ/ /ŋi̯wɐt̚/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
zhēng yuè
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
zing1 jyut6
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
zhēng yuè
Middle
Chinese
‹ tsyeng › ‹ ngjwot ›
Old
Chinese
/*C.teŋ/ /*ʷat/
English 1st (month) moon, month

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
Reading # 1/2 1/1
No. 17171 16319
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0 3
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*tjeŋ/ /*ŋod/
Notes

Noun

正月

  1. the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar
  2. (Xiamen Hokkien) first three days of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar
  3. (dated) January

Synonyms

Derived terms

See also

References

  1. ^ Caboara, Marco (2010) The particle ye 也 and related constructions in the Guodian manuscripts of IV century BCE (PhD)‎, University of Washington

Japanese

Kanji in this term
しょう
Grade: 1
がつ
Grade: 1
goon kan'yōon

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 正月 (MC tsyeng ngjwot)

Pronunciation

Noun

(しょう)(がつ) (shōgatsu

  1. January
  2. first month of the lunar year
  3. New Year

Synonyms

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 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

Hanja in this term

Noun

正月 (jeong'wol) (hangeul 정월)

  1. hanja form? of 정월 (the first month of the traditional Korean calendar)