南 (nán): south

Meanings

1 south

Characters

南

nán

south

Examples

我家在南边。

Wǒ jiā zài nánbiān.

My home is to the south.

南方比较热。

Nánfāng bǐjiào rè.

The south is relatively hot.

Tips

culture

China has a famous north-south divide. Southerners (南方人) traditionally eat rice; northerners (北方人) eat noodles and bread.

register

南 has a special reading nā in the Buddhist invocation 南无 (a transliteration meaning 'I take refuge in'), heard in chants like 南无阿弥陀佛. It is also a surname, read Nán. Everywhere else the reading is plain nán 'south.'

Components

radical

十 shí

ten; cross shape

The 十 radical sits at the very top as a crossed two-stroke cap, indexing the character. Etymologically loose, since 南 originally pictured a bell-shaped southern ritual instrument, but the modern silhouette places this clean mark above the bell body, making it the visible dictionary anchor.

pictograph

冂 jiōng

down-box frame

The outer down-box frame plus the inner strokes form the bell-shape that originally depicted a southern ritual instrument. The modern silhouette has fused these sub-elements into a single bell-body unit beneath the 十 cap, so they are kept together here rather than over-split.