Chinese Character Wiki
南

nán

south

Original meaning: 

musical instrument

Depicts a bell-shaped musical instrument. The current meaning of 南 is a phonetic loan.

Evolution

南 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
南 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
南 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
南 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
南 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

南  

nán

south; southern part; southward

南  

Nán

surname Nan

Most common words with 南
Freq.
Word
Meaning

南

south

南方

south

南京

capital of China at different historical periods

越南

Vietnam

南部

southern part

Component uses

Sound component in 5 characters (0 verified)

喃 楠 蝻 腩 罱

Simplified component in 1 character (1 verified)

献

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*nˤ[ə]m

nom

nán

south


Statistics

HSK level 1

Appears in 34.2303% of movies

872nd most common character in movies

307th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

9

Unicode

U+5357

Shuowen

“南，艸木至南方有枝任也。从，聲。，古文。”


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