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 (Shanghai, Wugniu): 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
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁸gheq; ⁷eq
    • MiniDict: gheh^入いれ; eh^入いれ
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁵hheq; ⁴eq
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɦəʔ¹²/, /əʔ⁵⁵/

Particle

の

1. Nonstandard form of 的てき.
   • 朱しゅ力つとむ亞あの手て作さく包つつみ, →ISBN
   • 打だ造みやつこ個人こじん化かの網あみ站 XOOPS 2.3.x 完全かんぜん實戰じっせん手しゅ冊さつ, →ISBN
   • 梅うめ問題もんだいの超ちょう質感しつかん商品しょうひん攝と影かげ手法しゅほう大だい公開こうかい, →ISBN

Pronunciation 2

優ゆう之の良品りょうひん (uses の for 之これ)

• 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 之これ (zhī).
   • 決戰けっせん時空じくうの塔とう

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 な行くだりお段だん (na-gyō o-dan, “row na, section o”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名ひらがな; 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) 之これ (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 沖おきつ島守しまもり (oki tsu shimamori, “the caretaker or watchman of an island of the offing [offshore]”) or 黄泉よみつ国くに (yomo tsu kuni, “the country of the underworld”).
• が (ga), as in 関ヶ原せきがはら (Sekigahara, a placename, parseable as seki “checkpoint, barrier” + ga [possessive] + hara “field, plain”)
• の (no), as in 倭やまとの一本いっぽん薄うす (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 港みなと (minato, “harbor”, generally parsed as mi “water” + na [possessive] + to “door, gate” → port, landing, harbor), or 掌てのひら (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(わたし)の意い(い)見み(けん) ― watashi no iken ― my opinion

   2. indicates identity or apposition

      大だい統みつる(だいとう)領りょう(りょう)のブッシュ氏し(し) ― daitōryō no Busshu-shi ― the President, Mr. Bush

      山やま(やま)田た(だ)の馬鹿ばか(ばか)野の(や)郎ろう(ろう)！ ― Yamada no baka yarō! ― Yamada, you stupid jerk!

      山やま(やま)田た(だ)の奴やつ(やつ) ― Yamada no yatsu ― that dude Yamada

   3. a noun, adverb, or phrase modifier

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

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

      全ちょん(すべ)ての商しょう(しょう)品しな(ひん) ― subete no shōhin ― all goods

      母はは(はは)への手て(て)紙かみ(がみ) ― haha e no tegami ― letter to mom

2. nominative case marker in a relative or subordinate clause

   眉まゆ(まゆ)毛もう(げ)の濃こ(こ)い人ひと(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(ふか)能のう(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: 事こと (koto), 物もの (mono)

   • 1908, Natsume Sōseki, “第だい一いち夜や”, in Yume Jūya [Ten Nights of Dreaming]‎^[2]:

     それから星ほし(ほし)の破片はへん(かけ)の落(お)ちたのを拾ひろえ(ひろ)って来き(き)て、かろく土ど(つち)の上うえ(うえ)へ乗の(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.

   食しょく(た)べるのが大だい(だい)好このみ(す)きだ。 ― taberu no ga daisuki da. ― I like eating very much.

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

   懐ふところ(なつ)かしのうた ― natsukashi no uta ― nostalgic song

   麗うらら(うるわ)しの君きみ(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(か)能のう(のう)なの? ― kanō na no? ― Is it possible?

  色いろ(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 桜さくらん坊ぼう (sakuranbō, “Japanese cherry”) or 飴あめん棒ぼう (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)
• 天てん(あま)の (ama no), 天てん(あめ)の (ame no)
• 彼かれ(かの) (kano)
• がの (ga no)
• この (kono)
• その (sono)
• だの (da no)
• 大だい(だい)の (dai no)
• ての (-te no),
• どの
• なの (na no)
• 何なに(なに)の (nani no)
• への (e no)
• やの (ya no)
• よの (yo no)
• 世よ(よ)の (yo no)

See also

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 的てき (de), 之これ (zhī)

• Korean: 의 (-ui)

Etymology 3

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

【野の】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. 篦へら: the shaft of an arrow; Pseudosasa japonica (arrow bamboo))
2. 幅はば, 布ぬの: a unit of measurement for cloth breadth, approximately 36 centimeters

Old Japanese

Etymology 1

From Proto-Japonic *nə.

Pronunciation appears to be distinct from 野の (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. 野の: plain, field