何
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Translingual
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Han character
何 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人一弓口 (OMNR), four-corner 21220, composition ⿰亻可)
References
- KangXi: page 98, character 15
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 511
- Dae Jaweon: page 208, character 5
- Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 130, character 4
- Unihan data for U+4F55
Chinese
| simp. and trad. |
何 | |
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| alternative forms | ⿰彳可 | |
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 何 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Shang | Western Zhou | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
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Characters in the same phonetic series (可) (Zhengzhang, 2003)
| Old Chinese | |
|---|---|
| 砢 | *ɡ·raːlʔ |
| 柯 | *kaːl |
| 菏 | *kaːl, *ɡaːl |
| 牁 | *kaːl |
| 滒 | *kaːl |
| 哥 | *kaːl |
| 歌 | *kaːl |
| 謌 | *kaːl |
| 鴚 | *kaːl |
| 哿 | *kaːlʔ |
| 舸 | *kaːlʔ |
| 笴 | *kaːlʔ, *kaːnʔ |
| 軻 | *kʰaːl, *kʰaːlʔ, *kʰaːls |
| 珂 | *kʰaːl |
| 可 | *kʰaːlʔ |
| 岢 | *kʰaːlʔ |
| 坷 | *kʰaːlʔ, *kʰaːls |
| 蚵 | *kʰaːls, *ɡaːl |
| 呵 | *qʰaːl, *qʰaːls |
| 訶 | *qʰaːl |
| 抲 | *qʰaːl |
| 荷 | *qʰaːls, *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ |
| 何 | *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ |
| 河 | *ɡaːl |
| 苛 | *ɡaːl |
| 魺 | *ɡaːl |
| 袔 | *ɡaːls |
| 阿 | *qaːl |
| 妸 | *qaːl, *qaːlʔ |
| 疴 | *qaːl, *kʰraːls |
| 鈳 | *qaːl |
| 娿 | *qaːl, *qaːlʔ |
| 痾 | *qaːl |
| 跒 | *kʰraːlʔ |
| 閜 | *qʰraːlʔ |
In the oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形) : a man carrying something on their shoulder – the original form of 荷 (OC *ɡaːlʔ, “to carry”).
The object being carried may have been 戈, in which case the character is also an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ) : semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 戈 (OC *koːl, “dagger-axe”).
In the bronze inscriptions, some forms of the character were phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ) : semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ), from which the modern form derives.
Etymology
Cognate with the following interrogative pronouns:
- 胡 (OC *ɡaː, “what; why”)
- 奚 (OC *ɡeː, “what; why; where”)
- 曷 (OC *ɡaːd, “why”)
- 盍 (OC *ɡaːb, “why not”): from the fusion of 何不 (OC *ɡaːl pɯ, “why not”)
In Sino-Tibetan, cognate with Tibetan ག་ན (ga na, “where; how”), Tibetan ག་རུ (ga ru, “to where”) (Schuessler, 2007).
STEDT, on the other hand, compares 何 (OC *ɡaːlʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka (“which; like; diectic; interrogative”), to which 幾 (OC *kɯlʔ, “how many”) and 豈 (OC *ŋ̊ʰɯlʔ, “how”) are also compared.
Pronunciation 1
Definitions
何
- (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. of something) what; which
- (literary) where; what place
- (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for reason, manner, etc. of an action) why; how
- (literary) (forming emphatic sentences) so; such; what; how
- a surname
- 何應欽／何应钦 ― Hé Yìngqīn ― He Yingqin (Kuomintang general)
Quotations
- See Citations:何
Synonyms
Dialectal synonyms of 什麼 (“what”) [map]
Dialectal synonyms of 哪裡 (“where”) [map]
Dialectal synonyms of 為什麼 (“why”) [map]
Compounds
Derived terms from 何
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Descendants
- → Tagalog: Ho (Hokkien dialect)
Pronunciation 2
Pronunciation 3
References
- “何”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database), 香港中文大學／香港中文大学 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
- Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00111
- “Entry #2874”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.
Japanese
Readings
- Go-on: が (ga)←が (ga, historical)
- Kan-on: か (ka, Jōyō)←か (ka, historical)
- Kun: なに (nani, 何, Jōyō)←なに (nani, historical); なん (nan, 何, Jōyō †)←なん (nan, historical); いず (izu, 何)←いづ (idu, historical); いずれ (izure, 何れ)←いづれ (idure, historical); いずく (izuku, 何く)←いづく (iduku, historical)
- Nanori: あが (aga)
Pronunciation
Compounds
Pronoun
何 • (nani) (alternative reading hiragana なん, rōmaji nan)
- what
- 794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki (page 92)
- 汝何所爲 奈尓世牟止曽
- 794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki (page 92)
- that thing (used in place of words you can't remember at the moment.)
Usage notes
Derived terms
Derived terms from interjection なに/なん
- 何か (nanika)
- 何かしら (nanikashira)
- 何が何でも (naniganandemo)
- 何気ない (nanigenai)
- 何気に (nanigeni)
- 何事 (nanigoto)
- 何卒 (nanitozo)
- 何様 (nanisama)
- 何しろ (nanishiro)
- 何人 (nanijin)
- 何々 (naninani)
- 何一つ (nanihitotsu)
- 何も (nanimo)
- 何もかも (nanimokamo)
- 何者 (nanimono)
- 何せ (nanse)
- 何だか (nandaka)
- 何たる (nantaru)
- 何で (nande)
- 何でも (nandemo)
- 何でもかんでも (nandemokandemo)
- 何とか (nantoka)
- 何とかかんとか (nantokakantoka)
- 何とかして (nantokashite)
- 何なり (nannari)
- 何人 (nanpito)
- 何等 (nanra)
- 何らか (nanraka)
Related terms
See also
Japanese demonstratives
| ko- “this” (close to speaker) |
so- “that” (close to listener) |
a- “that over there” (far from both) |
do- “which” (indeterminate, question) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Object | これ (kore) | それ (sore) | あれ (are) | どれ (dore) |
| これら (korera) | それら (sorera) | あれら (arera) | — | |
| Determiner | この (kono) | その (sono) | あの (ano) | どの (dono) |
| これらの (korera no) | それらの (sorera no) | あれらの (arera no) | — | |
| Kind | こんな (konna) | そんな (sonna) | あんな (anna) | どんな (donna) |
| Place | ここ (koko) | そこ (soko) | あそこ (asoko)* | どこ (doko) |
| こっから (kokkara) | そっから (sokkara) | — | どっから (dokkara) | |
| Direction | こちら (kochira) | そちら (sochira) | あちら (achira) | どちら (dochira) |
| こっち (kotchi) | そっち (sotchi) | あっち (atchi) | どっち (dotchi) | |
| Human | こいつ (koitsu) | そいつ (soitsu) | あいつ (aitsu) | どいつ (doitsu) |
| こちら様 (kochirasama) | そちら様 (sochirasama) | あちら様 (achirasama) | どちら様 (dochirasama) | |
| Manner | こう (kō) | そう (sō) | ああ (ā)** | どう (dō) |
| Degree | こんくらい (konkurai) | そんくらい (sonkurai) | あんくらい (ankurai) | どんくらい (donkurai) |
| こんだけ (kondake) | そんだけ (sondake) | あんだけ (andake) | どんだけ (dondake) | |
| * irregular ** regular (long vowel) | ||||
| a-/wa- “I, we” (first person) |
na-/-ma- “you, ye, thou” (second person) |
k- “this” (close to speaker) |
s- “that” (close to listener) |
a-/ka- “that over there” (far from both) |
i-/ta-/nani- “who, what, where, how, when” (interrogative) |
ono- “oneself” (reflexive) | |
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| Person | あ (a) あれ (are) わ (wa) われ (ware) まろ (maro) |
な (na) なれ (nare) なんぢ (nanji) まし (mashi) いまし (imashi) みまし (mimashi) きみ (kimi) |
こ (ko) これ (kore) |
そ (so) それ (sore) |
あ (a) あれ (are) か (ka) かれ (kare) |
た (ta) たれ (tare) なにがし (nanigashi) |
おの (ono) おのれ (onore) |
| Thing | こ (ko) これ (kore) |
そ (so) それ (sore) |
あ (a) あれ (are) か (ka) かれ (kare) |
いづれ (izure) なに (nani) |
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| Location | ここ (koko) | そこ (soko) | あしこ (ashiko) かしこ (kashiko) |
いづく (izuku) いづこ (izuko) いどこ (idoko) どこ (doko) |
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| Direction | こち (kochi) こなた (konata) |
そち (sochi) そなた (sonata) |
あち (achi) あなた (anata) かなた (kanata) |
いづち (izuchi) いづら (izura) いづかた (izukata) |
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| Manner | か (ka) かく (kaku) かくて (kakute) かう (kō) |
さ (sa) さて (sate) しか (shika) |
いか (ika) | ||||
| Time | いつ (itsu) |
Prefix
何 • (nan-)
Derived terms
References
- 1974, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Second Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō
- Unknown (794), Yoshinori Kobayashi, editor, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki (Kojisho Ongi Shūsei) (in Japanese), volume 1, Kyūko Shoin, published 1978, →ISBN.
Korean
Etymology
From Middle Chinese 何 (MC ɦɑ).
Okinawan
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nuː/
Vietnamese
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