# 나

| 나 | U+B098, &#45208; HANGUL SYLLABLE NA |
| Composition: | ㄴ + ㅏ |
| ← 낗 [U+B097] | Hangul Syllables | 낙 → [U+B099] |
| ㈏ | U+320F, &#12815; PARENTHESIZED HANGUL NIEUN A |
| ← ㈎ [U+320E] | Enclosed CJK Letters and Months | ㈐ → [U+3210] |
| ㉯ | U+326F, &#12911; CIRCLED HANGUL NIEUN A |
| ← ㉮ [U+326E] | Enclosed CJK Letters and Months | ㉰ → [U+3270] |
나낙낚낛난낝낞 낟날낡낢낣낤낥 낦낧남납낪낫났 낭낮낯낰낱낲낳 :
| 끼 ← | → 내 |

## Jeju
### Pronunciation

* (Morphophonemic) IPA: ⫽na⫽
* (Jeju City) IPA: [na̠]
* Phonetic hangul: [나]

### Etymology 1

Cognate with Korean 나 (na).

#### Pronoun

나 (na)
* I, the first-person singular pronoun

### Etymology 2

From Middle Korean 낳〮 (náh).

#### Noun

나 (na)
* age

##### Alternative forms

* 나이 (nai)

### References

* “나” in Jeju Dialect Dictionary, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.
* “나” in Andrew Cheng; K. David Harrison, Jeju-eo Talking Dictionary, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, 2014.

## Korean
### Etymology 1

From Middle Korean 나 (Yale: nà, “I; me”). Presumably existed in Old Korean, but cannot be ascertained because Old Korean pronouns were written with Chinese logograms that obscure the pronunciation.
It has been suggested since the 1950s that the basic Korean pronouns 나 (na, “I; me”), 너 (neo, “you”), and 누 (nu, “who”) (> modern 누구 (nugu)) were all formed from the same etymon via ablaut, which appears to have once been an extremely productive process in Korean, at some very ancient stage. Given the very limited data on prehistoric Korean, this hypothesis cannot be proven for sure either way.
Possibly cognate with Old Japanese 己 (na, “I”, first-person singular plain (non-polite) pronoun); if so, generally assumed to be a Korean loan into Japanese given the scarcity of Ryukyuan cognates (Vovin 2010).

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [na̠]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [나]

#### Pronoun

나 • (na)
* I, me; the first-person singular plain (non-polite) pronoun
    Synonym: (humble) 저 (jeo, “I, me”)
    Antonym: 너 (neo, “you”)
    나는 하늘을 나는 자동차가 빨리 발명되기를 바란다. ― Na-neun haneur-eul naneun jadongcha-ga ppalli balmyeong-doegi-reul baranda. ― I hope that flying cars will be invented soon.

##### Alternative forms

* 내 (nae) — allomorph before the nominative marker 가 (-ga)

##### Derived terms

* 너나 (neona, “you and me”)

##### See also

* 우리 (uri, “we”)

### Etymology 2

From Middle Korean 낳〮 (náh); see the main entry for more.

#### Pronunciation

* (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA: [na̠(ː)]
** Audio:(file)
* Phonetic hangul: [나(ː)]
** Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

#### Noun

나 • (na)
* (especially Gyeongsang) Alternative form of 나이 (nai, “age”)

### Etymology 3

Modern Korean reading of various Chinese characters.

#### Syllable

나 • (na)
* 奈: how
    (eumhun reading: 어찌 나 (eojji na)) (MC reading: 奈 (MC najH|naH))
* 哪: how
    (eumhun reading: 어찌 나 (eojji na)) (MC reading: 哪)
* 那: how
    (eumhun reading: 어찌 나 (eojji na)) (MC reading: 那 (MC na|naX|naH))
* 懦: feeble
    (eumhun reading: 나약할 나 (nayakhal na)) (MC reading: 懦 (MC nyu))
* 儺: exorcistic rite
    (eumhun reading: 푸닥거리 나 (pudakgeori na)) (MC reading: 儺 (MC na))
* 娜: beautiful
    (eumhun reading: 아리따울 나 (arittaul na)) (MC reading: 娜 (MC naX))
* 拿: grab
    (eumhun reading: 잡을 나 (jabeul na)) (MC reading: 拿)
* 拏: grab
    (eumhun reading: 붙잡을 나 (butjabeul na)) (MC reading: 拏 (MC nrae))
* 挐: grab
    (eumhun reading: 붙잡을 나 (butjabeul na)) (MC reading: 挐 (MC nrjo|nrae))
* 挪: move
    (eumhun reading: 옮길 나 (omgil na)) (MC reading: 挪 (MC na))
* 梛: name of a tree
    (eumhun reading: 나무 이름 나 (namu ireum na)) (MC reading: 梛)
* 糥: sticky rice
    (eumhun reading: 찰벼 나 (chalbyeo na)) (MC reading: 糥)
* 難: lush with plants
    (eumhun reading: 우거질 나 (ugeojil na)) (MC reading: 難 (MC nan|nanH))

### Etymology 4

Modern Korean reading of various Chinese characters, when in isolation or as the first character of a word. Word-internally, they are pronounced as 라 (ra).
Following a language reform in the mid-twentieth century, North Koreans pronounce these characters as 라 (ra) in all environments.

#### Syllable

나 • (na)
* 羅: net
    (eumhun reading: 그물 나 (geumul na)) (MC reading: 羅 (MC la))
* 倮: disrobe, naked
    (eumhun reading: 벗을 나 (beoseul na)) (MC reading: 倮)
* 裸: Alternative form of 倮
    (MC reading: 裸 (MC lwaX))
* 懶: lazy
    (eumhun reading: 게으를 나 (geeureul na)) (MC reading: 懶 (MC lanX))
* 癩: leper
    (eumhun reading: 나환자 나 (nahwanja na)) (MC reading: 癩 (MC lajH|lat))
* 螺: aquatic snail
    (eumhun reading: 소라 나 (sora na)) (MC reading: 螺 (MC lwa))
* 儸: talented, competent
    (eumhun reading: 간능 있을 나 (ganneung isseul na)) (MC reading: 儸 (MC la))
* 蠃: wasp
    (eumhun reading: 나나니벌 나 (nananibeol na)) (MC reading: 蠃 (MC lwa|lwaX))
* 囉: for sounds to mingle
    (eumhun reading: 소리 얽힐 나 (sori eolkil na)) (MC reading: 囉 (MC la))
* 曪: without sunlight
    (eumhun reading: 햇빛 없을 나 (haetbit eopseul na)) (MC reading: 曪 (MC laX))
* 瘰: scrofula
    (eumhun reading: 연주창 나 (yeonjuchang na)) (MC reading: 瘰 (MC lwaX))
* 砢: piling of stones
    (eumhun reading: 돌 쌓일 나 (dol ssail na)) (MC reading: 砢 (MC laX))
* 臝: naked
    (eumhun reading: 벌거벗을 나 (beolgeobeoseul na)) (MC reading: 臝 (MC lwaX))
* 蘿: mugwort
    (eumhun reading: 쑥 나 (ssuk na)) (MC reading: 蘿 (MC la))
* 邏: supervisor
    (eumhun reading: 순라 나 (sulla na)) (MC reading: 邏 (MC laH))
* 鑼: gong
    (eumhun reading: 징 나 (jing na)) (MC reading: 鑼 (MC la))
* 騾: mule
    (eumhun reading: 노새 나 (nosae na)) (MC reading: 騾 (MC lwa))
* 亽:
    (MC reading: 亽)

### Etymology 5

나 • (na)
* present of 나다 (nada)

### References

* ↑ 이근수 [igeunsu] (1971) “母(모)音(음)의 意(의)味(미)交(교)替(체)의 範(범)疇(주)中(중)期(기)國(국)語(어)를 中(중)心(심)으로 [Categories of semantic vowel alternation: Focusing on Middle Korean]”, in Gugeo gungmunhak, volume 54, pages 93—132
* ↑ 이근수 [igeunsu] (1975) “Ablaut 硏(연)究(구) [A study of ablaut]”, in Eomunnonjip, volume 10, pages 85—100