の

の U+306E, の HIRAGANA LETTER NO ← ね [U+306D] Hiragana は → [U+306F]

Chinese

FWOTD – 29 November 2012

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese possessive marker の (no).

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): de (de⁵／de⁰)

  (Zhuyin): ˙ㄉㄜ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): dik¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ê
• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁸gheq; ⁷eq

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: de
    • Zhuyin: ˙ㄉㄜ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: de̊
    • Wade–Giles: tê⁵
    • Yale: de
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: .de
    • Palladius: дэ (dɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /d̥ə/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: dik¹
    • Yale: dīk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dik⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: dig¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɪk̚⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ê
    • Tâi-lô: ê
    • Phofsit Daibuun: ee
    • IPA (Xiamen): /e²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /e²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /e¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /e²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /e²³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁸gheq; ⁷eq
    • MiniDict: gheh^入; eh^入
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁵hheq; ⁴eq
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɦəʔ¹²/, /əʔ⁵⁵/

Particle

の

1. Nonstandard form of 的.
   • 朱力亞の手作包, →ISBN
   • 打造個人化の網站 XOOPS 2.3.x 完全實戰手冊, →ISBN
   • 梅問題の超質感商品攝影手法大公開, →ISBN

Pronunciation 2

優之良品 (uses の for 之)

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhī (zhi¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄓ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zi¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zhī
    • Zhuyin: ㄓ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jhih
    • Wade–Giles: chih¹
    • Yale: jr̄
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jy
    • Palladius: чжи (čži)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zi¹
    • Yale: jī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ji¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡siː⁵⁵/

Particle

の

1. Nonstandard form of 之 (zhī).
   • 決戰時空の塔

Usage notes

Not used in running Chinese text in any region. It may be used as a shorthand, or to achieve visual, Japanese-style effect such as on signs, book titles, pamphlet covers or signboards, similar to faux Cyrillic.

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [no̞]

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 乃 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

の • (no) 

1. The hiragana syllable の (no). Its equivalent in katakana is ノ (no). It is the twenty-fifth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is な行お段 (na-gyō o-dan, “row na, section o”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲 (𛄲)ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

Alternative spellings
乃 (rare, literary) 之 (rare, literary)

⟨no₂⟩ → */nə/ → /no/

From Old Japanese の (no₂), in turn from Proto-Japonic *nə. Appears in common use in the Kojiki (712 CE). Perhaps also cognate with *nə, an element found in some Old Korean place names spelled as 乃 and 仍.

May be an apophonic form of Old Japanese particle な (na). This other form also appears in a similar function. However, its usage was already restricted to certain set expressions by the time of the earliest Japanese texts in the Nara period, with no clear examples of productive use. These appears to be adjacent to the vowels /a/, /o/, or /u/, suggesting na was an assimilated version of no.

In Old Japanese, there are three particles used productively to mark one noun modifying another:

• つ (tsu), as in 沖つ島守 (oki tsu shimamori, “the caretaker or watchman of an island of the offing [offshore]”) or 黄泉つ国 (yomo tsu kuni, “the country of the underworld”).
• が (ga), as in 関ヶ原 (Sekigahara, a placename, parseable as seki “checkpoint, barrier” + ga [possessive] + hara “field, plain”)
• の (no), as in 倭の一本薄 (Yamato no hitomoto susuki, “the sawtooth sedge of Yamato”, a line from one of the songs in the Kojiki)

The apophonic form な (na) persisted only as an element in certain compounds, such as 港 (minato, “harbor”, generally parsed as mi “water” + na [possessive] + to “door, gate” → port, landing, harbor), or 掌 (tanagokoro, “palm of the hand”, parsed as ta “hand” + na [possessive] + kokoro “heart, center”, changing to gokoro due to rendaku).

Particle

の • (no) 

1. genitive case marker
   1. indicates possession: of, -'s

      私(わたし)の意(い)見(けん) ― watashi no iken ― my opinion

   2. indicates identity or apposition

      大統(だいとう)領(りょう)のブッシュ氏(し) ― daitōryō no Busshu-shi ― the President, Mr. Bush

      山(やま)田(だ)の馬鹿(ばか)野(や)郎(ろう)！ ― Yamada no baka yarō! ― Yamada, you stupid jerk!

      山(やま)田(だ)の奴(やつ) ― Yamada no yatsu ― that dude Yamada

   3. a noun, adverb, or phrase modifier

      数学(すうがく)の分(ぶん)野(や) ― sūgaku no bun'ya ― the field of mathematics

      緑(みどり)の車(くるま) ― midori no kuruma ― green car

      全(すべ)ての商(しょう)品(ひん) ― subete no shōhin ― all goods

      母(はは)への手(て)紙(がみ) ― haha e no tegami ― letter to mom

2. nominative case marker in a relative or subordinate clause

   眉(まゆ)毛(げ)の濃(こ)い人(ひと) ― mayuge no koi hito ― a man whose eyebrow is thick

   Synonym: が (ga)

3. a sentence ending that indicates emphasis or a question, depending on intonation

   不可(ふか)能(のう)じゃないの？ ― fukanō ja nai no? ― Isn't it impossible?

   聞(き)いてんの？ ― kiiten no? ― Are you listening?

4. Nominalizes an adjective, verb, or phrase

   Synonyms: 事 (koto), 物 (mono)

   • 1908, 夏目漱石(なつめそうせき) [Natsume Sōseki], “第一夜”, in 夢十夜(ゆめじゅうや) (Yume jūya)‎^[2]:

     それから星(ほし)の破片(かけ)の落(お)ちたのを拾(ひろ)って来(き)て、かろく土(つち)の上(うえ)へ乗(の)せた。

     Sore kara hoshi no kake no ochita no o hirottekite, karoku tsuchi no ue e noseta.

     Then I picked up the fallen pieces of stars and put them on the soil.

   食(た)べるのが大(だい)好(す)きだ。 ― taberu no ga daisuki da. ― I like eating very much.

5. (literary) used with bare i-adjective stem

   懐(なつ)かしのうた ― natsukashi no uta ― nostalgic song

   麗(うるわ)しの君(きみ) ― uruwashi no kimi ― beautiful you

Usage notes

• In senses 3 and 4, だ (da) changes to the attributive な (na) when followed by の (no).

  可(か)能(のう)なの? ― kanō na no? ― Is it possible?

  色(いろ)がきれいなのがいい。 ― iro ga kirei na no ga ii. ― I prefer something with a beautiful color.

• For sense 3, use of の in declarative sentences for emphasis carries a female undertone, as compared with わ (wa).
• の is sometimes weakened into ん (n) in fixed compounds, such as 桜ん坊 (sakuranbō, “Japanese cherry”) or 飴ん棒 (amenbō, “lollipop”).

Derived terms

Derived terms

• のか (no ka)
• のだ (no da)
• ので (no de)
• のです (no desu)
• のに (no ni)
• のね (no ne)
• のは (no wa)
• のや (no ya)
• のよ (no yo)
• あの (ano)
• 天(あま)の (ama no), 天(あめ)の (ame no)
• 彼(かの) (kano)
• がの (ga no)
• この (kono)
• その (sono)
• だの (da no)
• 大(だい)の (dai no)
• ての (-te no),
• どの
• なの (na no)
• 何(なに)の (nani no)
• への (e no)
• やの (ya no)
• よの (yo no)
• 世(よ)の (yo no)

See also

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 的 (de), 之 (zhī)

• Korean: 의 (-ui)

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of の – see the following entry.

【野】2 [noun] an area, field [noun] the hidden part of a structure [prefix] wild [prefix] rustic, unsophisticated [proper noun] a surname

(This term, の, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as の, see Category:Japanese kanji read as の.)

Etymology 4

Readings of various kanji.

Noun

の • (no) 

1. 篦: the shaft of an arrow; Pseudosasa japonica (arrow bamboo))
2. 幅, 布: a unit of measurement for cloth breadth, approximately 36 centimeters

Old Japanese

Etymology 1

From Proto-Japonic *nə.

Pronunciation appears to be distinct from 野 (no₁, “plain, field”).

Particle

の (no₂)

1. genitive case marker
   1. indicates possession: of, -'s
   2. indicates identity or apposition
   3. a noun, adverb, or phrase modifier

Derived terms

• この (ko₂no₂)
• その (so₂no₂)
• かの (kano₂)

See also

• つ (tu)
• が (ga)

Etymology 2

Readings of various kanji.

Noun

の (no₁)

1. 野: plain, field