yang

See also: Yang, yáng, yàng, Yáng, yāng, and yǎng

English

Etymology 1

From early romanizations of Chinese 陽／阳 (yáng), originally in reference to the sunny side of areas such as mountains and dwellings.

Alternative forms

• Yang

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yăng; IPA^(key): /jæŋ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: yāng; IPA^(key): /jeɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ, -eɪŋ

Noun

yang (uncountable)

1. (philosophy) A principle in Chinese and related East Asian philosophies associated with bright, hot, masculine, etc. elements of the natural world.
   • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 187:

     "Steamed fish and chicken and vegetable soup and even mushrooms are considered cooling foods, edible materializations of the yang, the pure primal air. The yin, or earth element, inheres in fried dishes and especially in shark's fin soup. Am I right, Mr Lee?"

   • 1985 August 17, S. H. Chua, “IGA Smashes Borders”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 6, page 10:

     The performance was unmistakably male and gay. The rousing lion dance that capped their performance provided the right touch of "yang" without destroying the distinct feel of something gay, Asian and new.

Related terms

• (complement): yin
• (unity): yin-yang
• MONOGRAM FOR YANG ⚊

Translations

essential male principle

• Chinese:

  Dungan: ён (i͡on)

  Mandarin: 陽／阳 (zh) (yáng)

• German: Yang (de) n
• Hungarian: jang (hu)
• Japanese: 陽 (ja) (よう, yō)
• Korean: 양(陽) (ko) (yang)
• Persian: یانگ (yâng)
• Russian: ян (ru) m or n (jan)
• Swedish: yang (sv)
• Vietnamese: dương (vi) (陽)

Etymology 2

From Korean 양(兩) (yang, “yang, tael”). Doublet of liang.

Noun

yang (plural yangs)

1. The monetary unit of Korea from 1892 to 1902, divided into 100 pun.

Etymology 3

Imitative.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æŋ

Verb

yang (third-person singular simple present yangs, present participle yanging, simple past and past participle yanged)

1. (rare) To make the cry of the wild goose.
   • 1902, Eleanor Gates, The biography of a prairie girl:

     Away they went, the colt in the lead and the pinto after, until they reached the bunch of cottonwoods far up the stream where the yanging wild geese had their nests.

   • 1957, Adelbert Ames, Chronicles from the Nineteenth Century: 1874-1899:

     Last night we were awakened by the barking of dogs and yanging of a goose, and investigated to find that the man had neglected to house the geese and the dogs were killing them.

Noun

yang (plural yangs)

1. The cry of the wild goose; a honk.
   • 1867, Gail Hamilton, Wool-gathering‎^[1], Boston: Ticknor and Fields, page 185:

     Hangs is a false word, — a Northern corruption of the negro dialect yang, — an onomatopœian word, representing the "far heard clang" of the wild goose.

Anagrams

• Nagy

Bahnar

Noun

yang

1. a spirit or god

   yang trôk

   God

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 陽／阳 (yáng).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɑ̃ɡ/, /jaŋ/

Noun

yang m (uncountable)

1. yang

Further reading

• “yang”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjaŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -jaŋ, -aŋ, -ŋ
• Hyphenation: yang

Etymology 1

From Malay yang, from Classical Malay يڠ (yang), from Old Malay yaṃ.

Conjunction

yang

1. which ((relative) who, whom, what)

   rumah yang aku mau

   the house that i want

Pronoun

yang

1. one (impersonal pronoun)

Alternative forms

• yg (abbreviation)
• jg (superseded, abbreviation)

Derived terms

• beryang-yang

 

• yang dipertuan
• yang mana

 

Etymology 2

From Malay yang, from Proto-Malayic *hiaŋ, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *hiaŋ, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *hiaŋ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qiaŋ.

Noun

yang (plural yang-yang, first-person possessive yangku, second-person possessive yangmu, third-person possessive yangnya)

1. (Hinduism) hyang: An unseen spirit with supernatural powers, in ancient Indonesian mythology.

Alternative forms

• hiang (Standard Malay)
• hyang

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Chinese 陽／阳 (yáng).

Noun

yang (plural yang-yang, first-person possessive yangku, second-person possessive yangmu, third-person possessive yangnya)

1. (philosophy) yang: A principle in Chinese and related East Asian philosophies associated with bright, hot, masculine, etc. elements of the natural world.

   Antonym: yin

Etymology 4

Noun

yang (first-person possessive yangku, second-person possessive yangmu, third-person possessive yangnya)

1. Aphetic form of sayang (“sweetheart; darling”)

Further reading

• “yang” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Lashi

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-jak ~ g-jaŋ (“sheep, yak”). Cognates include Chinese 羊 (yáng, “sheep, goat, antelope”) and English yak.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jaŋ]

Noun

yang

1. sheep

References

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎^[2], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iaŋ/
• Rhymes: -iaŋ, -jaŋ, -aŋ

• Audio (MY)

  (file)

Etymology 1

First attested in the Kedukan Bukit inscription, 683 CE, as Old Malay [script needed] (yaṃ).

Alternative forms

• yg (SMS slang)
• iang
• nyang

Conjunction

yang (Jawi spelling يڠ)

1. which ((relative) who, whom, what)

Pronoun

yang (Jawi spelling يڠ)

1. one (impersonal pronoun)

Etymology 2

From hiang, from Proto-Malayic *hiaŋ, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *hiaŋ, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *hiaŋ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qiaŋ.

Alternative forms

• hiang
• yang-yang
• هياڠ
• يڠ
• يڠ٢

Noun

yang (Jawi spelling يڠ, used only in the form yang-yang)

1. Alternative form of hiang

Synonyms

• tuhan / توهن
• dewa m / ديوا m, dewi f / ديوي f
• ilah / اله

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of sayang.

Alternative forms

• ayang
• sayang

Noun

yang

1. dear, honey; a title of address for a couple (include to husband and wife).

Etymology 4

Abbreviation of dayang.

Noun

yang

1. (colloquial) a title of little distinction.
2. (Pahang Malay, Johore Malay) a feminine titular prefix.

Further reading

• “yang” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
• Wilkinson, Richard James. An Abridged Malay-English Dictionary. Macmillan. 1965.

Mandarin

Romanization

yang

1. Nonstandard spelling of yāng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of yáng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of yǎng.
4. Nonstandard spelling of yàng.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Mato

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈjɑŋ]

Noun

yang

1. wind

References

• Phonological Descriptions of Papua New Guinea Languages (2005, SIL, edited by Steve Parker), section Mato (Nenaya, Nengaya, Nineia) Language, page 28: yang [ˈjɑŋ] 'wind'

Miskito

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jaŋ/

Pronoun

yang

1. I

See also

Miskito personal pronouns

		Singular	Plural
First	inclusive		yawan
	exclusive	yang	yang nani
Second		man	man nani
Third		witin	witin nani

Ternate

Etymology

From Malay yang, from Old Malay yaṃ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jaŋ]

Conjunction

yang (Jawi يڠ)

1. relative clause introducer; which, that

   Synonym: ma

   pangkat yang gaku ― a high position (literally, “a position which is high”)

   ngofa halal yang manyirah ― the legitimate eldest son (literally, “the legitimate son who is eldest”)

   oto yang ikuraci ngori ri die ― the yellow car is mine (literally, “the car which is yellow is my property”)

Usage notes

In older texts, as de Clercq mentions, yang was only used together with other Malay borrowings; in more recent usage, yang can follow non-Malay words as well.

References

• Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890) Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Wutunhua

Etymology

From Mandarin 羊 (yáng).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jɑ̃]

Noun

yang

1. sheep

   je nga-n-de mize-de yang hai-li.

   This is our little sister's sheep.

   (Quoted in Sandman, p. 99)

References

• Erika Sandman (2016) A Grammar of Wutun‎^[3], University of Helsinki (PhD), →ISBN