涅

See also: 㘿

涅 U+6D85, 涅 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6D85 ← 涄 [U+6D84] CJK Unified Ideographs 涆 → [U+6D86]

涅 U+2F905, 涅 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F905 ← 浸 [U+2F904] CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 𣴞 → [U+2F906]

Translingual

Han character

涅 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 水日土 (EAG), four-corner 3611₄, composition ⿰氵圼)

1. blacken
2. black mud, slime
3. to tattoo

Derived characters

• 篞, 𦶄, 𡮛, 𢟗, 𦄇, 𣻾

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 626, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17521
• Dae Jaweon: page 1027, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1623, character 2
• Unihan data for U+6D85

• Unihan data for U+2F905

Chinese

trad.		涅/湼
simp.		涅
alternative forms		圼 㘿 𣵀

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 涅
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Characters in the same phonetic series (日) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
涅	*niːɡ
捏	*niːɡ
篞	*niːɡ
衵	*niɡ, *njiɡ
日	*njiɡ
馹	*njiɡ

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *niːɡ): semantic 氵 (“water”) + semantic 土 (“soil”) + phonetic 日 (OC *njiɡ).

Etymology

"black mud"

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nyak (“filth(y); excrement”) (STEDT). Cognate with Tibetan སྙིགས་པ (snyigs pa, “impure sediment”), Burmese ညစ် (nyac, “dirty; filthy”).

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Related to 泥 (OC *niːl, *niːls)? Schuessler (2007) suggests no, STEDT suggests yes.”

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): niè (nie⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄧㄝˋ

  (Dungan, Cyrillic and Wiktionary): не (ni͡ə, I)

• Cantonese (Jyutping): nip⁶
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): liap

  (Teochew, Peng'im): niab⁴

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁸gniq

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: niè
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄧㄝˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: niè
    • Wade–Giles: nieh⁴
    • Yale: nyè
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nieh
    • Palladius: не (ne)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ni̯ɛ⁵¹/
  • (Dungan)
    • Cyrillic and Wiktionary: не (ni͡ə, I)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /niə²⁴/

    (Note: Dungan pronunciation is currently experimental and may be inaccurate.)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: nip⁶
    • Yale: nihp
    • Cantonese Pinyin: nip⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: nib⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /niːp̚²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: liap
    • Tâi-lô: liap
    • Phofsit Daibuun: liab
    • IPA (Xiamen): /liap̚³²/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /liap̚⁵/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /liap̚³²/
    • IPA (Taipei): /liap̚³²/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /liap̚³²/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: niab⁴
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: niap
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /niap̚²/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁸gniq
    • MiniDict: nyih^入
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁵nyiq
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /n̠ʲiɪʔ¹²/

---

• Middle Chinese: net

Rime
Character	涅
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	泥 (8)
Final (韻)	屑 (87)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	奴結切
Baxter	net
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/net̚/
Pan Wuyun	/net̚/
Shao Rongfen	/nɛt̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/nɛt̚/
Li Rong	/net̚/
Wang Li	/niet̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/niet̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	niè
Expected Cantonese Reflex	nit6

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*niːɡ/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	涅
Reading #	1/1
No.	10841
Phonetic component	日
Rime group	質
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	涅
Old Chinese	/*niːɡ/

Definitions

涅

1. black mud
2. melanterite
3. black
4. to dye black; to blacken

   不曰白乎，涅而不緇。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
   不曰白乎，涅而不缁。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

   From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

   Bù yuē bái hū, niè ér bù zī. [Pinyin]

   Is it not said, that, if a thing be really white, it may be steeped in a dark fluid without being made black?

Compounds

• 密涅瓦 (Mìnièwǎ)
• 涅伏 (nièfú)
• 涅字
• 涅槃 (nièpán)
• 涅槃經 / 涅槃经
• 涅槃罪度
• 涅白
• 涅而不緇 / 涅而不缁 (niè'érbùzī)
• 涅面
• 涅齒 / 涅齿

References

• “涅”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), B02111