九

Stroke order

Stroke order

 

See images of 九
(radical 5 + 1)

九 (Kangxi radical 5, 乙+1, 2 strokes, cangjie input 大弓 (KN), four-corner 4001₇, composition ⿻㇓㇈)

• 仇, 㕤, 扏, 氿, 肍, 朹, 犰, 䊵(𮉠), 訅, 䜪, 軌(轨), 㐜, 釚(𫟲), 骩, 鼽, 丸, 旭, 訄, 䧱, 虓, 頄(𬱓), 馗, 㐡, 㐤, 鳩(鸠), 勼, 宄, 尻, 旯, 㶢, 艽, 究, 㭝, 㐇, 卆, 厹, 叴, 旮, 杂, 䲥, 㔲, 抛, 亴

• 𛀭

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 83, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 167
• Dae Jaweon: page 168, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 48, character 5
• Unihan data for U+4E5D

 

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 九 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 九 (Cantonese)
• 九 (Classical)
• 9 (Eastern Min)
• 9 (Southern Min)

 

Historical forms of the character 九
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
Oracle bone script   j29822   j29823   j29824   j29825   j29826   j29827   j29828   j29829   j29830   j29831   j29832   j29833   j29834   j29835   j29836   j29837   j29838   j29839   j29840   j29841   j29842   j29843   j29844   j29845   j29846   j29847   j29848   j29849   j29850   j29851 Bronze inscriptions   b19923   b19924   b19925   b19926   b19927   b19928   b19929   b19930   b19931   b19932   b19933   b19934   b19935   b19936   b19937   b19938   b19939   b19940   b19941   b19942   b19943   b19944   b19945   b19946   b19947   b19948   b19949   b19950   b19951   b19952   b19953   b19954   b19955   b19956   b19957 Small seal script   s10923 Transcribed ancient scripts   L35389   L35390   L35391   L35392   L35393   L18222   L18223   L18224   L18225   L18226   L18227   L18228   L18229   L18230   L18231   L18232
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Pictogram (象形) – a stylized hand, with bent wrist/forearm (hence the hook stroke at lower right). Earlier forms resemble 手 (shǒu), 寸 (cùn). The original meaning of the glyph was “elbow”, which is now written 肘 (OC *tkuʔ).

After the meaning “elbow” was forgotten, 九 was taken to symbolize a fist tightening to bump up against something; thus, there is a metaphorical bumping up of nine against ten, which is the last number when counting on one's fingers.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d/s-kəw. Compare Tibetan དགུ (dgu).

九

1. nine

   • 九九八十一。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

     From: “The Mnemonic of Multiplication”

     Jiǔ jiǔ bāshíyī. [Pinyin]

     Nine times nine is eighty-one.

2. (figurative) many

   • 九曲黃河萬里沙，浪淘風簸自天涯。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     九曲黄河万里沙，浪淘风簸自天涯。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 822?, Liu Yuxi, “Ripples Sifting Sand”

     Jiǔ qū huánghé wàn lǐ shā, làng táo fēng bò zì tiānyá. [Pinyin]

     The Yellow River with its many twists and turns flows thousands of miles full of sand / Carried by its waves stirred up by the wind coming from a faraway land.

3. (weather) each of the nine nine-day periods from the winter solstice

   • 一九二九不出手，三九四九冰上走。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

     From: “The Nine Nine-Day Periods Song”, a folk song

     Yī jiǔ èr jiǔ bù chū shǒu, sān jiǔ sì jiǔ bīng shàng zǒu. [Pinyin]

     In the first and the second nine-day period, one should not take out one's hand; / In the third and the fourth nine-day period, the ice is thick enough to stand.

4. (Cantonese, minced oath, euphemistic) Synonym of 㞗 (gau1, “penis”)

• 勾 (gōu) (in radio communications)

Others:

• → Proto-Tai: *kɤwꟲ (“nine”)
  • Northern Tai:
    • Bouyei: guz
    • Zhuang: gouj
    • Saek: กู̂
    • Tai Do: cau
  • Central Tai:
    • Caolan: cáu
    • Nùng: càu
    • Tày: cẩu
  • Wenma-Southwestern Tai:
    • Sapa-Southwestern Tai:
      • Proto-Southwestern Tai:
        • Thai: เก้า (gâao)
        • Northern Thai: ᨠᩮᩢ᩶ᩣ
        • Lao: ເກົ້າ (kao)
        • Lü: ᦂᧁᧉ (k̇aw²)
        • Tai Dam: ꪹꪀ꫁ꪱ (cảu)
        • Shan: ၵဝ်ႈ (kāo)
        • Tai Laing: ကႍဝ်
        • Tai Nüa: ᥐᥝᥲ (kàw)
        • Ahom: 𑜀𑜧 (kaw)

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

1. nine

• Go-on: く (ku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: きゅう (kyū, Jōyō)^{←きう (kiu, historical)}
• Kun: ここの (kokono, 九, Jōyō)、ここのつ (kokonotsu, 九つ, Jōyō)
• Nanori: いちじく (ichijiku)、いちのく (ichinoku)、この (kono)、ひさし (hisashi)

From Middle Chinese 九 (MC kjuwX). The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing. Borrowed after palatalization occurred in Middle Chinese. Compare modern Hakka 九 (giu³).

• (Tokyo) きゅう [kyúꜜù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [kʲɨː]

• Audio:

  (file)

九(きゅう) • (kyū) ^{←きう (kiu)?}

1. nine

九(きゅう) • (kyū) ^{←きう (kiu)?}

1. nine
2. 究: an indeterminate large number, a myriad, a great many
3. (divination) the number of yang, in opposition to 六 (roku, “six”) as the number of yin

From Early Middle Chinese 九 (MC kjuwX). The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing.

• (Tokyo) く [kúꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟]

九(く) • (ku) 

1. nine
2. ninth

• Sometimes considered unlucky due to being homophonous with 苦 (ku, “suffering”).

九(く) • (ku) 

1. nine
2. the ninth

From Old Japanese from Proto-Japonic *kəkənə.

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.^[2]

• (Tokyo) ここの [kòkóꜜnò] (Nakadaka – [2])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ko̞ko̞no̞]

九(ここの) • (kokono) 

1. nine

/kokono/ → /kono/

Abbreviation of Old Japanese 九 (kokono, “nine”).

• (Tokyo) この [kóꜜnò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ko̞no̞]

九(この) • (kono) 

1. nine

   ひい、ふう、みい、…なな、やあ、この、とお

   hī, fū, mī,…nana, yā, kono, tō

   one, two, three, ... seven, eight, nine, ten

• Generally only used when counting out loud, as in the example above. In writing, usually found spelled out in hiragana as この to make the reading unambiguous.

• “You can count on the tales behind number-kanji”, in The Japan Times‎^[2], 2010 March 17, archived from the original on 2014-12-21

From Middle Chinese 九 (MC kjuwX).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ku]
• Phonetic hangul: [구]

 

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

九

Wikisource

九 (eumhun 아홉 구 (ahop gu))

1. hanja form^? of 구 (“nine”)

Related to Middle Chinese 糾 (MC kjiwX).

九 (eumhun 모을 규 (mo'eul gyu))

1. (archaic) hanja form^? of 규 (“to gather; to collect”)

• 규합 (九合/糾合, gyuhap)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

九: Hán Việt readings: cửu^[1][2]
九: Nôm readings: cửu^[1][3][4]

1. Chữ Hán form of cửu (“nine”).

九

1. Sawndip form of gyaeuj (“head; headhair”)