北

北 (radical 21, 匕+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 中一心 (LMP), four-corner 1111₀, composition ⿲⿱一㇀丨匕(GJKV) or ⿰⿱⿰一丨㇀匕(HT))

• KangXi: page 152, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2574
• Dae Jaweon: page 342, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 262, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5317

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

Ideogrammic compound (會意) – two men back to back. Originally meaning “back”; the character 背 (OC *pɯːɡs, *bɯːɡs) refers to the original word.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ba (“to carry (on back), shoulder”).

The sense of “north” is derived from “back (of body)”: “back” → “to turn the back to; to retreat” → “north”.

The ancient Chinese value the southern direction and houses are traditionally oriented along a north-south axis, as evident in the fengshui theory and orientation of buildings in Chinese Neolithic sites. North is the direction the back is oriented to when the person is facing south.

Compare the graphical origin of 南 (OC *nuːm, “south”) (Sagart, 1988).

北

1. north; northern
2. to be defeated; to fail

• 東／东 (dōng)
• 西 (xī)
• 南 (nán)

• (Min Nan pronunciation audio) “Entry #1395”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. north
2. escape, run away

• Go-on: ほく (hoku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ほく (hoku, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: ぺ (pe)
• Kan’yō-on: ぺい (pei)
• Kun: きた (kita, 北, Jōyō); にげる (nigeru, 北げる)

Possibly from Old Japanese.

Ultimate derivation unknown.

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) きた [kìtá] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
  • (Tokyo) きた​ [kìtáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[1][2]
  • IPA^(key): [kʲi̥ta̠]

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

• Kun’yomi
  • (Kyoto) き​た [kíꜜtà] (Atamadaka – [1])
  • IPA^(key): [kʲita̠]

• Kun’yomi
  • (Kagoshima) き​た [kíꜜtḁ] (Atamadaka – [1])
  • IPA^(key): [kʲitḁ]

北 (hiragana きた, rōmaji kita)

1. north (cardinal point)
   • 905, Kokin Wakashū (book 9, poem 412)

     北 (きた)へ行 (ゆ)く雁 (かり)ぞ鳴 (な)くなるつれてこし数 (かず)はたらでぞかへるべらなる

     kita e yuku kari zo nakunaru tsurete koshi kazu wa tarade zo kaeruberanaru

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   Antonym: 南 (minami)

2. the North (northern part of a region)
3. a northerly, north wind

   Synonym: 北風 (kitakaze, hokufū)

   Antonym: 南 (minami)

4. Short for 北の方 (kita no kata): northward
5. a developed country

   from the many countries in the Northern Hemisphere are considered developed

北 (hiragana きた, katakana キタ, rōmaji Kita)

1. a place name, especially the name of a ward in various cities in Japan
2. (historical) the red-light district north of Edo Castle

   Synonyms: 北郭 (Hokkaku), 北国 (Hokkoku)

3. a surname
4. a female given name

北する (suru conjugation, hiragana きたする, rōmaji kita suru)

1. to go northwards

   Synonym: 北進する (hokushin suru)

From Mandarin 北 (běi).

北 (katakana ペー, rōmaji pē)

1. (mahjong) north wind (mahjong tile)

   Hypernym: 風牌 (kazehai, fanpai)

2. (mahjong) a 役 (yaku, “winning hand”) with a triplet or quad of north wind tiles; depending on wind round and player's seat wind, it is worth either 1 or 2 翻 (han, “doubles”)

   Hypernym: 役牌 (yakuhai, yaku-pai)

• 風 (かぜ)牌 (ハイ) (kazehai, “wind tiles”): 東 (トン) (ton, “east wind”), 南 (ナン) (nan, “south wind”), 西 (シャー) (shā, “west wind”), 北 (ペー) (pē, “north wind”)

北 • (buk, bae)

• Eumhun:
  • Sound (hangeul): 북, 배
  • Name (hangeul): 북녘, 달아나다

1. north, northern

Cognate with mainland Japanese 西 (nishi, “west”).

北

• Kun: にし (nishi)

北 (hiragana にし, romaji nishi)

1. north

• 北風 (にしかじ, nishikaji, “north wind”)

Cognate with mainland Japanese 西 (nishi, “west”).

北

• Kun: にし (nishi)

北 (hiragana にし, romaji nishi)

1. north

北 (bắc, bác, bấc, bậc, bước)

1. north