Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
然. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
然, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
然 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
然 you have here. The definition of the word
然 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
然, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Translingual
Stroke order
|
|
Stroke order
|
|
Han character
然 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 月大火 (BKF), four-corner 23333, composition ⿱⿰𱼀犬灬)
Derived characters
- 㒄, 㜣, 㦓, 㬗, 䔳, 䳿, 嘫, 撚, 橪, 燃, 繎, 蹨, 撚, 𡑋, 𡮫, 𤺱, 𥊶, 𥢯, 𥳚
References
- Kangxi Dictionary: page 675, character 12
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19149
- Dae Jaweon: page 1086, character 20
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2213, character 5
- Unihan data for U+7136
Chinese
Glyph origin
|
Old Chinese
|
嘫
|
*rneːn
|
然
|
*njen
|
肰
|
*njen
|
繎
|
*njon, *njen
|
燃
|
*njen
|
蹨
|
*njenʔ, *neːnʔ
|
橪
|
*njenʔ, *ʔneːn
|
撚
|
*neːnʔ
|
Phono-semantic compound (形聲/形声, OC *njen) : phonetic 肰 (OC *njen, “dog meat”) + semantic 火 (“fire”) – to burn. Also ideogrammic compound (會意/会意) . The derivative 燃 (OC *njen) stands for the original word in Modern Chinese.
Note that the upper left component is analyzed as 肉 (meat), and in the component 肰 it is drawn as a tilted 月 (“moon”), appearing more like 夕 (“evening”) with an extra stroke (𱼀); compare 祭, 將.
Etymology
A fusion of 如 (OC *nja, *njas) with an element *-n which has a demonstrative meaning (Schuessler, 2007).
Pronunciation
Note:
- riêng5 - Chaozhou;
- riang5 - Shantou, Jieyang, Chenghai, Chaoyang.
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
|
Character
|
然
|
Reading #
|
1/1
|
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)
|
rán
|
Middle Chinese
|
‹ nyen ›
|
Old Chinese
|
/*a/
|
English
|
so, thus; (adv suffix)
|
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
|
然
|
Reading #
|
1/1
|
No.
|
10756
|
Phonetic component
|
肰
|
Rime group
|
元
|
Rime subdivision
|
2
|
Corresponding MC rime
|
然
|
Old Chinese
|
/*njen/
|
Definitions
然
- † Original form of 燃 (rán, “to burn”).
- † a demonstrative that refers to a previous verbal clause
- Near-synonym: 是 (shì)
- † so; thus; in this manner; like this
- 然後/然后 ― ránhòu ― then (literally, “after things turn out this way”)
- 不然 ― bùrán ― or else, otherwise (literally, “not so”)
- 非然也。 [Classical Chinese] ― Fēi rán yě. ― It is not so. / That is not how it is.
- † Suffix forming adverbs, sometimes also adjectives, with an abstract meaning of “in the manner of, like”.
- 顯然/显然 ― xiǎnrán ― apparently, obviously
- 果然 ― guǒrán ― as expected (literally, “as a result”)
- 龐然大物/庞然大物 ― pángrándàwù ― giant, something enormous (literally, “a bigly big thing”)
- 喟然長嘆/喟然长叹 ― kuìránchángtàn ― to sigh (with 喟 being an onomatopoeia)
- † metaphors extracted from fossilizations of sense 2
- † but
- 然而 ― rán'ér ― but (literally, “(having said) that, and/but”)
- † correct; right
- 不以為然/不以为然 ― bùyǐwèirán ― to not regard as correct (literally, “not regarding (reality) as (being) that”); to object
- † to regard as correct; to agree
- (Teochew) to resemble; to be like
Usage notes
This word is fossilized and cannot be used to form new expressions in Modern Chinese. In earlier Chinese, it could freely refer to any verb clause.
- (literally, “So good user troops resembles like quickly quickly that, i.e. using troops”)
- Alternatively punctuated 投之亡地。然後存。陷之死地。然後生
- (literally, “Throw them (the troops) death land. After doing that survive. Sink them (the troops) death land. After doing that live”)
With the alternative punctuation, the quote commands the reader to actually try this, which is somewhat reasonable. However in Classical Chinese, all pronouns, including this, can also used be topicalizers to merely continue the last clause but linguistically unfocus it instead of starting a new sentence. The topicalization interpretation is equal to the following:
- *投之亡地後存。陷之死地後生
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of
像 (“to be like; to be similar to; to resemble”)
Dialectal synonyms of
但是 (“but; however”)
Variety
|
Location
|
Words
|
Classical Chinese
|
而, 然, 但, 卻, 則
|
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)
|
但是, 但, 可是, 不過, 然而
|
Northeastern Mandarin
|
Taiwan
|
但是, 但, 可是, 不過
|
Malaysia
|
但
|
Singapore
|
但, 但是, 可是, 不過
|
Southwestern Mandarin
|
Pematangsiantar
|
tapi
|
Cantonese
|
Guangzhou
|
但係, 不過, 之不過, 之但係
|
Hong Kong
|
但係, 不過, 之不過, 之但係, but
|
Taishan
|
但係
|
Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)
|
但係
|
Singapore (Guangfu)
|
但係, 不過, 之不過
|
Hakka
|
Meixian
|
但係, 董係
|
Miaoli (N. Sixian)
|
但係, 毋過
|
Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)
|
但係, 毋過, 毋故
|
Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)
|
但係, 毋過
|
Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)
|
但係, 毋過
|
Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)
|
但係, 毋過
|
Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)
|
毋過
|
Senai (Huiyang)
|
但係
|
Kuching (Hepo)
|
tapi
|
Eastern Min
|
Fuzhou
|
但是
|
Matsu
|
但是
|
Southern Min
|
Xiamen
|
但是, 毋過, 毋句, 不過, 不而過
|
Quanzhou
|
但是, 毋句, 不過, 不而過
|
Zhangzhou
|
但是, 毋過, 不過, 不而過
|
Taipei
|
但是, 毋過, 不而過
|
Penang (Hokkien)
|
tapi, 但是
|
Singapore (Hokkien)
|
tapi, 但是, 毋句, 毋過
|
Manila (Hokkien)
|
但是, 毋句, 毋過
|
Medan (Hokkien)
|
tapi
|
Shantou
|
是呾
|
Shantou (Chenghai)
|
是呾
|
Jieyang
|
是呾, 比補
|
Bangkok (Teochew)
|
但是, แต่ว่า
|
Johor Bahru (Teochew)
|
但是, tapi
|
Singapore (Teochew)
|
tapi, 不過, 但是
|
Wenchang
|
但是
|
Qionghai
|
但是
|
Wu
|
Shanghai
|
但是, 必過, 不過, 但不過, 但必過
|
Wuxi
|
但必過
|
Compounds
Japanese
Kanji
然
(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)
- and; and then; and therefore
- so; if so; as it is; in that way
- however; but
- a certain thing; a sort of thing
Readings
- Go-on: ねん (nen, Jōyō)
- Kan-on: ぜん (zen, Jōyō)
- Kun: しか (shika, 然)、しかり (shikari, 然り)、しかし (shikashi, 然し)、しかも (shikamo, 然も)、もえる (moeru, 然える)、しかれども (shikaredomo, 然れども)、しかして (shikashite, 然して)、さ (sa, 然)
Compounds
Etymology
From Middle Chinese 然 (nyen, “-like”).
Pronunciation
Suffix
然 • (-zen)
- indicates a state (no specific semantic content)
References
- Halpern, Jack: New Japanese-English Character Dictionary -Kenkyusha 1990
Korean
Hanja
然 (eumhun 그러할 연 (geureohal yeon))
- hanja form? of 연 (“be as it is”)
Vietnamese
Han character
然: Hán Việt readings: nhiên
- This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
{{rfdef}}
.