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Definition 2024

東

東

See also: 东 and 柬

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

東 (radical 75 木+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 木田 (DW), four-corner 50906, composition ⿻木日)

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: page 513, character 12
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14499
  • Dae Jaweon: page 899, character 8
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1165, character 4
  • Unihan data for U+6771

Chinese

trad. 東
simp. 东

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 東
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (東) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
東 *toːŋ
菄 *toːŋ
鶇 *toːŋ
倲 *toːŋ
涷 *toːŋ, *toːŋs
蝀 *toːŋ, *toːŋʔ
凍 *toːŋ, *toːŋs
鯟 *toːŋ
崠 *toːŋ
埬 *toːŋ
棟 *toːŋs

Phonetic borrowing – originally represented a bag tied at both ends (like a cellophane-wrapped candy with the ends twisted), and was later borrowed phonetically to mean “east”. This borrowing may have been influenced by reinterpreting the character as the sun (日) rising behind a tree (木), which is the traditional (though incorrect) etymology, as given in Shuowen.

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 東
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 端 (5)
Final (韻) 東 (1)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 德紅切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /tuŋ/
Pan
Wuyun		 /tuŋ/
Shao
Rongfen		 /tuŋ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /təwŋ/
Li
Rong		 /tuŋ/
Wang
Li		 /tuŋ/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /tuŋ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 dōng
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 東
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 dōng
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ tuwng ›
Old
Chinese		 /*tˤoŋ/ (< *tˤoŋʔ ?)
English east

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 東
Reading # 1/1
No. 2435
Phonetic
component		 東
Rime
group		 東
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 東
Old
Chinese		 /*toːŋ/
Notes 種（種籽）初文，甲金文象種皮甲坼萌生根芽，參敕字陳字注

Definitions

東

  1. east
  2. eastern
  3. eastward
  4. host
    做東 / 做东  ―  zuòdōng  ―  to be host
  5. landlord; owner
    房東 / 房东  ―  fángdōng  ―  landlord
    股東 / 股东  ―  gǔdōng  ―  shareholder

Coordinate terms

  • 南 (nán, “south”)
  • 西 (xī, “west”)
  • 北 (běi, “north”)

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

東

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. east

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
東
とう
Grade: 2
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 東 ‎(tuwng, “east”).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

東 ‎(hiragana とう, romaji Tō)

  1. A surname​.
  2. Abbreviation of 関東 ‎(Kantō): the Kantō region
  3. Abbreviation of 東国 ‎(Tōgoku): eastern Japan

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
東
ひむかし
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

*/pimukasi/ → /fimukaɕi/ → /himukaɕi/

From Old Japanese. Compound of 日 ‎(hi, “sun”) +‎ 向か ‎(muka, “facing, direction”) +‎ 風 ‎(shi, “wind, direction”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

東 ‎(hiragana ひむかし, romaji himukashi)

  1. (obsolete) east

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
東
ひんがし
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

/pimukasi/ → /pimugasi/ → /fimugaɕi/ → /fingaɕi/ → /hingaɕi/

Sound shift from earlier pimukasi.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

東 ‎(hiragana ひんがし, romaji hingashi)

  1. (obsolete) east
    • 10th century: Ise Monogatari (chapter 4, page 82)
      むかし、東（ひんがし）の五条に大后の宮おはしましける、西の対に住む人有けり。

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term
東
ひがし
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

/hingaɕi/ → /higaɕi/

Sound shift from earlier hingashi. Now the standard word for east.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

東 ‎(hiragana ひがし, romaji higashi)

  1. east

Proper noun

東 ‎(hiragana ひがし, romaji Higashi)

  1. A surname​.

Etymology 5

Kanji in this term
東
あずま
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

/aduma/ → /ad͡zuma/ → /azuma/

From Old Japanese.[1][2] Ultimate derivation unknown. A speculative origin might be a compound of 天 ‎(ama, “sky, heavens”) + 端 ‎(tsuma, “edge, beginning”), but the elision of the ma in ama does not follow normal patterns.

Pronunciation

Noun

東 ‎(hiragana あずま, romaji azuma, historical hiragana あづま)

  1. east, Eastern Japan

Proper noun

東 ‎(hiragana あずま, romaji Azuma)

  1. A male given name
  2. A surname​.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  3. 1 2 3 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

東 • ‎(dong)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 동 (revised: dong, McCune-Reischauer: tong, Yale: tong)
  • Name (hangeul): 동녘 (revised: dongnyeok, McCune-Reischauer: tongnyŏk, Yale: tongnyekh)
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Compounds

  • 정동 (征東, jeongdong)
  • 정동 (正東, jeongdong)
  • 정동방 (正東方, jeongdongbang)
  • 제동야인 (齊東野人, jedong-yain)
  • 동대문 (東大門, dongdaemun)

Okinawan

Kanji

東

Readings

  • Native: く (ku), くち (kuchi), あがり (agari)
  • Nonnative: とー (tō), とぅ (tu)

Compounds

  • 東風 (くち, kuchi): east wind, easterly wind, eastern wind
  • 東風 (くちかじ, kuchikaji): east wind, easterly wind, eastern wind
  • 東京 (とーちょー, tōchō): Tokyo
  • 広東瓜 (くゎんとぅうい, kwantuui): watermelon

Etymology

From 上り ‎(agari, “ascent, rise”) in reference to the direction where the sun rises, ascends.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʔagaɾi/

Noun

東 ‎(hiragana あがり, romaji agari)

  1. east

Vietnamese

Han character

東 (đông, đang, tông)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Yoron

Kanji

東

Readings

  • Native: あがり (agari)

Etymology

From 上り ‎(agari, “ascent, rise”) in reference to the direction where the sun rises, ascends.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʔagaɾi/

Noun

東 ‎(hiragana あがり, romaji agari)

  1. east

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