See also: and 🈚
U+7121, 無
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7121

[U+7120]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+7122]

TranslingualEdit

Stroke order
(cursive)
 
 
The character 無 in semi-cursive script.

Han characterEdit

(Kangxi radical 86, +8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 人廿火 (OTF), four-corner 80331, composition ⿱⿳𠂉)

Derived charactersEdit

Related charactersEdit

Further readingEdit

  • KangXi: page 673, character 26
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19113
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1081, character 24
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2211, character 15
  • Unihan data for U+7121

ChineseEdit

trad.
simp.
alternative forms
 
Wikipedia has articles on:
  • (Written Standard Chinese?)
  • Mò̤ (Min Dong)

Glyph originEdit

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

Pictogram (象形). A man dancing with something long held in both hands.

This character is borrowed for “have no”, and the character () is used for the original sense.

Etymology 1Edit

Core Sino–Tibetan. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ma (no, not); cognate with Tibetan མ་ (ma, not) and Burmese (ma., not).

Cognate with:

  • (OC *mɯl, “not, no”)
  • (OC *ma, “do not”)
  • (OC *mɯd, “not, don't”)
  • (OC *mɯds, “not yet, haven't”)
  • (OC *mralʔ, “not, no”)
  • (OC *maŋ, “not have; to flee, to disappear, to die”)
  • (OC *mɯːd, “to end, to disappear, to drown”)
  • (OC *maːɡ, “none, nobody, nothing; do not; can not”)

Attested profusely in Classical Chinese, this word is the prototypical negation particle in the *m- series of Chinese negatives. In the oracle bone script, however, is not frequently used, and its homophone (or near-homophone) (OC *ma) is used instead.

See (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ', “not”) for more on negative particles in Old Chinese.

PronunciationEdit


Note:
  • Sixian:
    • mò - colloquial;
    • vù - literary.
  • Meixian:
    • mo2 - colloquial;
    • vu2 - literary.
  • Jin
  • Min Bei
  • Note:
    • maǔ - colloquial (also written as );
    • ǔ - literary.
  • Min Dong
  • Note:
    • mò̤ - colloquial (also written as );
    • ù - literary.
  • Min Nan
  • Note:
    • bô - colloquial;
    • bû - literary.
    Note:
    • bho5 - colloquial;
    • bhu5 - literary.
  • Wu
  • Note:
    • 3hhmm - colloquial;
    • 3hhu - literary.

    Rime
    Character
    Reading # 1/1
    Initial () (4)
    Final () (24)
    Tone (調) Level (Ø)
    Openness (開合) Closed
    Division () III
    Fanqie
    Baxter mju
    Reconstructions
    Zhengzhang
    Shangfang
    /mɨo/
    Pan
    Wuyun
    /mio/
    Shao
    Rongfen
    /mio/
    Edwin
    Pulleyblank
    /muə̆/
    Li
    Rong
    /mio/
    Wang
    Li
    /mĭu/
    Bernard
    Karlgren
    /mi̯u/
    Expected
    Mandarin
    Reflex
    Expected
    Cantonese
    Reflex
    mou4
    BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
    Character
    Reading # 1/3 2/3 3/3
    Modern
    Beijing
    (Pinyin)
    Middle
    Chinese
    ‹ mju › ‹ mju › ‹ mju ›
    Old
    Chinese
    /*ma/ /*ma/ /*mo/
    English not have volitional prefix don’t

    Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

    * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
    * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
    * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
    * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

    * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
    Zhengzhang system (2003)
    Character
    Reading # 1/1
    No. 13117
    Phonetic
    component
    Rime
    group
    Rime
    subdivision
    0
    Corresponding
    MC rime
    Old
    Chinese
    /*ma/

    DefinitionsEdit

    1. (literary or Hakka, Min) to not have something; there is not ...
      天空天空  ―  Tiānkōng yún.  ―  There is no cloud in the sky.
      零星錢零星钱 [Hokkien]  ―  Góa lân-san-chîⁿ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  I don't have any change.
    2. (literary or Min) Negation particle preceding verbs and adjectives. not
        ―    ―  can't
        ―  qiú yú nǐ.  ―  I want nothing from you.
    3. (literary or Min) have not
      [Hokkien]  ―  Góa kā i kóng. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  I didn't tell him.
    4. (literary or Hakka, Min) Interrogative particle.
    5. (Hakka, Min) if not; otherwise (placed at the start of a sentence)
    6. (Hokkien, Teochew) Particle used after a verb to indicate that a goal has not or cannot been accomplished.
      [Hokkien]  ―  khòaⁿ- [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to not understand (when reading or viewing); to be unable to see
      只個字典 [Teochew, trad.]
      只个字典 [Teochew, simp.]
      zi2 gai7 ri7 do6 ri7 diêng2 cuê7 bho5. [Peng'im]
      You can't find this word in the dictionary.
    7. regardless of; no matter whether
    8. nothing; nil
      到有到有  ―  cóng dào yǒu  ―  start from nothing, from scratch
    9. Alternative form of (, “do not”).
    10. without; -less; un-
        ―  qíng  ―  heartless
        ―    ―  unreasonable
        ―  biān  ―  unlimited
    SynonymsEdit
    See alsoEdit
    • (interrogative particle) (wèi), (ma), (fǒu)

    CompoundsEdit

    DescendantsEdit

    Sino-Xenic ():
    • Japanese: () (mu); () (bu)
    • Korean: 무(無) (mu)
    • Vietnamese: ()

    Etymology 2Edit

    trad.
    simp.
    alternative forms

    PronunciationEdit


    DefinitionsEdit

    1. Only used in 南無南无 (nāmó).

    CompoundsEdit

    Etymology 3Edit

    For pronunciation and definitions of – see (“to not have; to not exist; etc.”).
    (This character, , is a variant form of .)

    Further readingEdit

    JapaneseEdit

    KanjiEdit

    (grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

    1. nothing
    2. nothingness
    3. none
    4. nil
    5. not

    ReadingsEdit

    CompoundsEdit


    Kanji in this term

    Grade: 4
    on’yomi
    Alternative spelling

    NounEdit

    () (mu

    1. nothing, nothingness
    2. (Buddhism) mu; the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or other question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer).

    DescendantsEdit

    • English: mu

    PrefixEdit

    () (mu-

    1. non-, un-

    () (bu-

    1. non-, un-

    KoreanEdit

    Alternative formsEdit

     
    Yakja (略字, simplified cursive) form of 無.

    EtymologyEdit

    From Middle Chinese (MC mɨo). Recorded as Middle Korean (mwu) (Yale: mwu) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

    PronunciationEdit

    HanjaEdit

    Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

    Wikisource

    (eumhun 없을 (eopseul mu))

    1. Hanja form? of (nothing).
    2. Hanja form? of (no; non).
    3. Hanja form? of ((Buddhism) the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or a question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer)).

    CompoundsEdit

    ReferencesEdit

    • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [1]

    VietnameseEdit

    Han characterEdit

    : Hán Việt readings: [1][2][3][4], [2]
    : Nôm readings: [1][2][4][5], [2][6][4]

    1. chữ Hán form of (without; -less; un-).

    CompoundsEdit

    ReferencesEdit