北

北 (Kangxi radical 21, 匕+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 中一心 (LMP), four-corner 1111₀, composition ⿲⿱一㇀丨匕(GJKV) or ⿰⿱⿰一丨㇀匕(HT))

• 𰞃

• KangXi: page 152, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2574
• Dae Jaweon: page 342, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 262, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5317
• Unihan data for U+F963
• Unihan data for U+2F82B

• 北 on Wikidata.Wikidata

Historical forms of the character 北
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) – two men back to back. Originally meaning “back”; the character 背 (OC *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs) refers to the original word.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ba (“to carry (on back), shoulder”).

The sense of “north” is derived from “back (of body)”: “back” → “to turn the back to; to retreat” → “north”.

The ancient Chinese value the southern direction and houses are traditionally oriented along a north-south axis, as evident in the fengshui theory and in the orientation of buildings in Chinese Neolithic sites. North is the direction the back is oriented to when the person is facing south.

Compare the graphical origin of 南 (OC *nuːm, “south”) (Sagart, 1988).

北

1. north; northern

   北移  ―  běi yí  ―  to move north

   北京  ―  Běijīng  ―  Beijing (literally, “northern capital”)

2. to be defeated; to fail

   敗北／败北  ―  bàiběi  ―  to suffer defeat

• (compass points) 方位;

西北	北	東北／东北
西		東／东
西南	南	東南／东南

Others:

• → Japanese: 北(ペー) (pē, “north wind (mahjong tile)”)

北

1. ^† Original form of 背 (bèi, “back; to betray”).

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00416
• “Entry #1395”, 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.

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. north
2. escape, run away

• Go-on: ほく (hoku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ほく (hoku, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: ぺ (pe)
• Kan’yō-on: ぺい (pei)
• Kun: きた (kita, 北, Jōyō); にげる (nigeru, 北げる)

Attributed to Old Japanese,[1] although the exact phonetics are not clear, as the term is not cited in phonetic man'yōgana.

Ultimate derivation unknown.

• (Tokyo) きた [kìtá] (Heiban – [0])[2][3]
• (Tokyo) きた​ [kìtáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [kʲi̥ta̠]

• (Kyoto) き​た [kíꜜtà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [kʲita̠]

• (Kagoshima) き​た [kíꜜtà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [kʲitå̠]

北(きた) • (kita) 

1. north (cardinal point)
   • 905, Kokin Wakashū (book 9, poem 412)

     北(きた)へ行(ゆ)く雁(かり)ぞ鳴(な)くなるつれてこし数(かず)はたらでぞかへるべらなる

     kita e yuku kari zo nakunaru tsurete koshi kazu wa tarade zo kaeruberanaru

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   Antonym: 南 (minami)

2. the North (northern part of a region)
3. a northerly, north wind

   Synonym: 北風 (kitakaze, hokufū)

   Antonym: 南 (minami)

4. Short for 北の方 (kita no kata): northward
5. a developed country

   from the many countries in the Northern Hemisphere are considered developed

• (compass points) 方角(ほうがく) (hōgaku);

西北(せいほく) (seihoku) 北西(ほくせい) (hokusei)	北(きた) (kita)	東北(とうほく) (tōhoku) 北東(ほくとう) (hokutō)
西(にし) (nishi)		東(ひがし) (higashi)
西南(せいなん) (seinan) 南西(なんせい) (nansei)	南(みなみ) (minami)	東南(とうなん) (tōnan) 南東(なんとう) (nantō)

北(きた) • (Kita) 

1. Kita (one of 23 special wards in Tokyo prefecture, Japan)
2. (historical) the red-light district north of Edo Castle

   Synonyms: 北郭 (Hokkaku), 北国 (Hokkoku)

3. a surname
4. a female given name

北(きた)する • (kita suru) suru (stem 北(きた)し (kita shi), past 北(きた)した (kita shita))

1. to go northwards

   Synonym: 北進する (hokushin suru)

From Mandarin 北 (běi).

• IPA^(key): [pe̞ː]

北(ペー) • (pē) 

1. (mahjong) north wind (mahjong tile)

   Hypernym: 風牌 (kazehai, fanpai)

2. (mahjong) a 役 (yaku, “winning hand”) with a triplet or quad of north wind tiles; depending on wind round and player's seat wind, it is worth either 1 or 2 翻 (han, “doubles”)

   Hypernym: 役牌 (yakuhai, yaku-pai)

• 風(かぜ)牌(ハイ) (kazehai, “wind tiles”): 東(トン) (ton, “east wind”), 南(ナン) (nan, “south wind”), 西(シャー) (shā, “west wind”), 北(ペー) (pē, “north wind”)

(The following entry is uncreated: 背.)

From Middle Chinese 北 (MC pək̚).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [puk̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [북]

Wikisource 北 (eumhun 북녘 북 (bungnyeok buk))

1. Hanja form^? of 북 (“north”).

From Middle Chinese 北 (MC buʌi^H).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [pɛ] ~ [pe̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [배/베]

北 (eumhun 달아날 배 (daranal bae))

1. Hanja form^? of 배 (“to escape; to flee”).

北 • (Buk) (hangeul 북)

1. (in headlines) Short for 北(북)韓(한) (Bukhan, “(South Korea) North Korea”).

A common convention in news headlines, this is almost always written solely in the Hanja form, even in contemporary Korean text otherwise devoid of any Hanja.

• 韓(한) (Han, “(South Korea) South Korea”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Kun: にし (nishi, 北)

Cognate with mainland Japanese 西 (nishi, “west”).

北 (hiragana にし, rōmaji nishi)

1. north; northern; northwards

• 北 (にし)風 (かじ) (nishikaji, “north wind”)

• “ニシ” in Haisai Okinawan Dialect.
• “にし【北】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.
• “ニシ（にし）” in Okinawan Dialect Dictionary - Ajima.
• “にし” in Okinawan Dictionary - KozaWeb.

北

• Kun: にし (nishi)

Cognate with mainland Japanese 西 (nishi, “west”).

• IPA^(key): [niɕi]

北 (hiragana にし, rōmaji nishi)

1. north; northern; northwards

• “にし【北】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

北: Hán Nôm readings: bắc, bác, bấc, bậc, bước

1. chữ Hán form of bắc (“north”).

北

1. Sawndip form of byaek (“vegetable”)