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U+7121, 無
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7121

CJK Unified Ideographs

Translingual

Stroke order
(cursive)
The character 無 in semi-cursive script.

Han character

(Kangxi radical 86, +8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 人廿火 (OTF), four-corner 80331, composition ⿱⿳𠂉)

Derived characters

Further reading

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 673, character 26
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19113
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1081, character 24
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2211, character 15
  • Unihan data for U+7121

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
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

Pictogram (象形) . A man dancing with something long held in both hands, perhaps two branches ().

This character is borrowed for “have no”, and the character () is used for the original sense.

Etymology 1

trad.
simp.
alternative forms
Wikipedia has articles on:
  • (Written Standard Chinese?)
  • Mò̤ (Eastern Min)

Core Sino–Tibetan. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ma (no, not); cognate with Tibetan མ་ (ma, not) and Burmese (ma., not).

Cognate with:

  • (OC *mɯl, “not, no”)
  • (OC *ma, “do not”)
  • (OC *mɯd, “not, don't”)
  • (OC *mɯds, “not yet, haven't”)
  • (OC *mralʔ, “not, no”)
  • (OC *maŋ, “not have; to flee, to disappear, to die”)
  • (OC *mɯːd, “to end, to disappear, to drown”)
  • (OC *maːɡ, “none, nobody, nothing; do not; can not”)

Attested profusely in Classical Chinese, this word is the prototypical negation particle in the *m- series of Chinese negatives. In the oracle bone script, however, is not frequently used, and its homophone (or near-homophone) (OC *ma) is used instead.

See (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ', “not”) for more on negative particles in Old Chinese.

Pronunciation


Note:
  • Sixian:
    • mò - colloquial;
    • vù - literary.
  • Meixian:
    • mo2 - colloquial;
    • vu2 - literary.
Note:
  • maǔ - colloquial (also written as );
  • ǔ - literary.
Note:
  • mò̤ - colloquial (also written as );
  • ù - literary.
Note:
  • bo2 - colloquial;
  • bu2 - literary.
Note:
  • bô - colloquial;
  • bû - literary.
Note:
  • bho5 - colloquial;
  • bhu5 - literary.
Note:
  • m - colloquial;
  • wu/vu - literary.

    Rime
    Character
    Reading # 1/1
    Initial () (4)
    Final () (24)
    Tone (調) Level (Ø)
    Openness (開合) Closed
    Division () III
    Fanqie
    Baxter mju
    Reconstructions
    Zhengzhang
    Shangfang
    /mɨo/
    Pan
    Wuyun
    /mio/
    Shao
    Rongfen
    /mio/
    Edwin
    Pulleyblank
    /muə̆/
    Li
    Rong
    /mio/
    Wang
    Li
    /mĭu/
    Bernard
    Karlgren
    /mi̯u/
    Expected
    Mandarin
    Reflex
    Expected
    Cantonese
    Reflex
    mou4
    BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
    Character
    Reading # 1/3 2/3 3/3
    Modern
    Beijing
    (Pinyin)
    Middle
    Chinese
    ‹ mju › ‹ mju › ‹ mju ›
    Old
    Chinese
    /*ma/ /*ma/ /*mo/
    English not have volitional prefix don’t

    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 # 1/1
    No. 13117
    Phonetic
    component
    Rime
    group
    Rime
    subdivision
    0
    Corresponding
    MC rime
    Old
    Chinese
    /*ma/

    Definitions

    1. (literary or Hakka, Min) to not have something; there is not ...
      天空天空  ―  Tiānkōng yún.  ―  There is no cloud in the sky.
      零星錢 [Hokkien, trad.]
      零星钱 [Hokkien, simp.]
      Góa lân-san-chîⁿ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
      I don't have any change.
    2. (literary or Min) Negation particle preceding verbs and adjectives. not
        ―    ―  can't
        ―  qiú yú nǐ.  ―  I want nothing from you.
    3. (literary or Min) have not
      [Hokkien, trad.]
      [Hokkien, simp.]
      Góa kā i kóng. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
      I didn't tell him.
    4. (literary or Hakka, Min) Interrogative particle.
    5. (Hakka, Min) if not; otherwise (placed at the start of a sentence)
    6. (Hokkien, Teochew) Particle used after a verb to indicate that a goal has not or cannot been accomplished.
      [Hokkien]  ―  khòaⁿ- [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to not understand (when reading or viewing); to be unable to see
      只個字典 [Teochew, trad.]
      只个字典 [Teochew, simp.]
      zi2 gai7 ri7 do6 ri7 diêng2 cuê7 bho5. [Peng'im]
      You can't find this word in the dictionary.
    7. regardless of; no matter whether
    8. nothing; nil
      到有到有  ―  cóng dào yǒu  ―  start from nothing, from scratch
    9. Alternative form of (, do not)
    10. without; -less; un-
        ―  qíng  ―  heartless
        ―    ―  unreasonable
        ―  biān  ―  unlimited
    Synonyms
    See also
    • (interrogative particle) (wèi), (ma), (fǒu)

    Compounds

    Descendants

    Sino-Xenic ():
    • Japanese: () (mu); () (bu)
    • Korean: 무(無) (mu)
    • Vietnamese: ()
  • Peranakan Indonesian: bo
  • Etymology 2

    trad.
    simp.
    alternative forms

    Pronunciation


    Definitions

    1. Only used in 南無南无 (nāmó).

    Compounds

    Etymology 3

    For pronunciation and definitions of – see (“to not have; to not exist; etc.”).
    (This character is a variant form of ).

    Further reading

    Japanese

    Kanji

    (Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

    1. nothing
    2. nothingness
    3. none
    4. nil
    5. not

    Readings

    Compounds

    Etymology 1

    Kanji in this term

    Grade: 4
    goon
    Alternative spelling

    From Middle Chinese (MC mju). The 呉音 (goon), so likely an earlier borrowing.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    () (mu

    1. nothing, nothingness
    2. (Buddhism) mu; the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or other question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer).
    Descendants
    • English: mu

    Prefix

    () (mu-

    1. non-, un-

    Etymology 2

    Kanji in this term

    Grade: 4
    kan'on

    From Middle Chinese (bu). The 漢音 (kan'on), so likely a later borrowing.

    Prefix

    () (bu-

    1. non-, un-

    References

    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

    Alternative forms

    Yakja (略字, simplified cursive) form of 無.

    Etymology

    From Middle Chinese (MC mju). Recorded as Middle Korean (mwu) (Yale: mwu) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

    Pronunciation

    Hanja

    Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

    Wikisource

    (eumhun 없을 (eopseul mu))

    1. hanja form? of (nothing)
    2. hanja form? of (no; non)
    3. hanja form? of ((Buddhism) the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or a question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer))

    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

    : Hán Việt readings: [1][2][3][4], [2]
    : Nôm readings: [1][2][4][5], [2][6][4]

    1. chữ Hán form of (without; -less; un-).

    Compounds

    References