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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

那

nà
that; those
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 1
  • radical 邑
  • 7 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
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Origin

The character 那 is a phono-semantic compound. It consists of the phonetic component 冄 (reconstructed as *njam, *njamʔ) and the semantic component 邑, meaning "state; country; nation." The component 邑 is composed of 囗 ("box, enclosure") and 卪 ("joint; node"). Originally, the character served as the name of a state, but it was later borrowed to function as a distal demonstrative to refer to people, things, or matters that are relatively far away, in contrast to "this." It can also act as a particle expressing transition or connection.

Several possible origins are suggested. It may be a contraction of 那麼 or 那么, or a fusion of 如何 (reconstructed as *nja ɡaːl) or 奈何 (reconstructed as *naːls ɡaːl). It is also noted as a clipping of 那拉, from the Manchu ᠨᠠᡵᠠ (nara). Other theories suggest it derives from the Proto-Tai *naːᴬ ("paddy field"), which includes the descendant Zhuang naz. The character is a variant of 㑚. It is a cognate with 若 (reconstructed as *njaɡ), 爾 (Middle Chinese nyeX), Khmer នោះ ("that"), and Vietnamese nọ ("that"). It is also possibly related to Proto-Mon-Khmer *nɔʔ, Proto-Tai *najꟲ, Thai นี้, and Zhuang neix.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

關於「那」的起源有幾種不同的學說。一種說法認為它是形聲字，由音符「冄」與意義成分「邑」組成，最初作為國名使用。另一種說法則認為它可能源自於原始太語的 *naːᴬ（稻田），或是其後代語言如壯語的 naz。

在語言比較方面，「那」與「若」（上古音 *njaɡ）及「爾」（中古音 nyeX）互為同源詞。它也可能與原始孟-高棉語 *nɔʔ ~ *nɔh 有關，進而與高棉語 នោះ (nuh) 及越南語 nọ 有關。此外，它也可能與原始太語 *najꟲ（這）有關，進而與泰語 นี้ (níi) 及壯語 neix 有關。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese邑 “state; country; nation”
    • ideaChinese囗 “box, enclosure”
    • ideaChinese卪 “joint; node”
  • derivedProto-Tai*naːᴬ “paddy field”

Related: Proto-Mon-Khmer *nɔʔ, Khmer នោះ, Vietnamese nọ, Proto-Tai *najꟲ, Thai นี้, Zhuang neix

Words built on it: 那些, 那裡, 那麼

Wiktionary etymology text
Etymology 1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *naːl, *naːlʔ, *naːls): phonetic 冄 (OC *njam, *njamʔ) + semantic 邑 (“city”).

Originally the name of a state; later borrowed for a distal demonstrative.

Cognate with 若 (OC *njaɡ, “that”), 爾 (MC nyeX, “that”) (Norman, 1988). Also compare (Schuessler, 2007):

* Proto-Mon-Khmer *nɔʔ ~ *nɔh (“this”), whence Khmer នោះ (nuh, “that”), Vietnamese nọ (“that”);

* Khmu [script needed] (naa, “she”);

* Proto-Tai *najꟲ (“this”), whence Thai นี้ (níi, “this”), Zhuang neix (“this”).

Etymology 5

For pronunciation and definitions of 那 – see 㑚 (“(Wu) you”).

(This character is a variant form of 㑚).

Contraction of 那麼／那么

Etymology 7

Fusion of 如何 (OC *nja ɡaːl) or 奈何 (OC *naːls ɡaːl).

Etymology 11

Clipping of 那拉, from Manchu ᠨᠠᡵᠠ (nara).

Etymology 12

Derived from Proto-Tai *naːᴬ (“paddy field”) or its descendants, such as Zhuang naz.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. that; those
  2. then; in that case
  3. so; that

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 代詞。指比較遠的人、事、物等。與這相對。 例：那邊有一個湖。
  2. 表承接、轉折的語氣詞。 例：你要是沒空，那我就找別人陪我去。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 那 was written 字形演變

  1. 那 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  2. 那 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 那