儂

Glyph origin
.

Etymology 1

 * “Person; I; me > suffix for pronouns” in southeastern varieties

Its senses of “person; human being” and “pronoun suffix” are well-attested in the classical literature, dating back to the. At the present time, traces of this word are found in various Southern regions such as Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, in Wu, Min, Hui and Gan.


 * “Person; human”
 * In Coastal Min (, and ), it serves as the vernacular reading of, by itself or in compounds. It is also used in Jinqu Wu lects (also classified as Wuzhou Wu and Chuqu Wu), usually written as.


 * “I”
 * 儂 was used to mean “I” in medieval poetry from the Wu region, before it was displaced by the more common . Also attested was Ancient Wu, which was abbreviated to in certain localities, such as that of.


 * “Pronoun suffix”
 * This is widely found in Wu and Min languages. The structure ‹ singular pronoun (“I, you, he/she/it”) + 儂 › is common, with 儂 functioning either as a meaningless particle or a pluraliser. The resulting forms were thus used to mean singular or plural pronouns, and were rather prone to elision to become a single syllable. Compare the following plural pronouns in Min:


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Original word !! Meaning !! (Eastern Min)!! (Southern Min)!! (Southern Min) !! (Puxian Min) ! !! we !  !! we (inclusive) ! !! you (plural) ! !! they
 * ua neiŋ || gua laŋ || gun || kuoŋ ~ kŋ
 * - || laŋ laŋ || lan || -
 * ni neiŋ || li laŋ || lin || tyøŋ
 * i neiŋ || i laŋ || in || yøŋ
 * }


 * A similar chain of changes happened in the Wu varieties to arrive at the modern divergent dialectal forms for “you (singular)”.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan=4 | ! colspan=2 | Lect !! colspan=2 | Term
 * rowspan=7 | Northern || ||  ||
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * rowspan=2 | Jinqu || ||  ||
 * }
 * }
 * }


 * Some lects, such as, have merged the two syllables into one, leaving to mean “you (singular)”.

With regard to the etymology of this word,, and  hypothesised that this is the same as. The use of this word as a pronoun may have originated as a form of personal deprecation and then come to be used as a full-fledged pronoun. disagree, proposing that nong was originally a substrate word possibly of  origin, and possibly an original clan name later developing to mean “person; I”. Compare 🇨🇬 and name of the 11th century Zhuang leader, as well as the name of the people in Vietnam.

Definitions

 * 1)  person; human being
 * 2)  a person associated with a particular identity or trait; -er
 * 3)  physical, psychological or moral quality or condition
 * 4)  others; other people
 * 5)  I; me
 * 6)  you
 * 7)  he, him; she, her; it
 * 8) . Nong
 * 1)  he, him; she, her; it
 * 2) . Nong
 * 1) . Nong

Usage notes

 * Archaic in Wu.
 * In Coastal Min (Eastern Min nè̤ng; Hokkien lāng, lǎng, lâng; Hainanese nang2), it is often used affectionately like Mandarin.
 * In Coastal Min (Eastern Min nè̤ng; Hokkien lāng, lǎng, lâng; Hainanese nang2), it is often used affectionately like Mandarin.

Etymology 2
Probably a substrate word. Compare 🇨🇬 (whence 🇨🇬), 🇨🇬.

Definitions

 * 1)  child
 * 2)  son
 * 3)  infant

Usage notes
This character is seldom used in modern Japanese.

Etymology 1
Contraction of.

Pronoun

 * 1)  I, me

Usage notes
The term is a regular pronoun in Western Japan, used primarily by men in most regions. Depending on the region, it may be used mainly by the elderly, which is especially true for women using it, and becoming more true as usage of local variants declines in younger generations. Its use is often considered stereotypical of old people in Japanese media and is frequently used in TV shows and comics to emphasize the age of characters. However, it may also simply be used to emphasize the character as hailing from Kansai.

More commonly spelled, or in kana to make the reading explicit.

Etymology 2
Very rare alternative spelling. See the more common spelling for more details about the term.