# の

| の | U+306E, &#12398; HIRAGANA LETTER NO |
| ← ね [U+306D] | Hiragana | は → [U+306F] |

## Chinese

* の#の在漢語圈 (Written Standard Chinese)
* の (Cantonese)

### Etymology

Pseudo-Japonism, Orthographic borrowing from Japanese possessive marker の (no).

### Pronunciation 1

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): de (de$^5$／de$^0$)
    (Zhuyin): ˙ㄉㄜ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): dik$^1$
* Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ê
* Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): $^8$gheq; $^7$eq
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: de
*** Zhuyin: ˙ㄉㄜ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: de̊
*** Wade–Giles: tê$^5$
*** Yale: de
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: .de
*** Palladius: дэ (dɛ)
*** Sinological IPA : /d̥ə/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: dik$^1$
*** Yale: dīk
*** Cantonese Pinyin: dik$^7$
*** Guangdong Romanization: dig$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /tɪk̚⁵/
* Southern Min
** (Hokkien)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ê
*** Tâi-lô: ê
*** Phofsit Daibuun: ee
*** IPA (Xiamen): /e²⁴/
*** IPA (Quanzhou): /e²⁴/
*** IPA (Zhangzhou): /e¹³/
*** IPA (Taipei): /e²⁴/
*** IPA (Kaohsiung): /e²³/
* Wu
** (Northern: Shanghai)
*** Wugniu: $^8$gheq; $^7$eq
*** MiniDict: gheh$^入$; eh$^入$
*** Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): $^5$hheq; $^4$eq
*** Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɦəʔ¹²/, /əʔ⁵⁵/

#### Particle

の
* Nonstandard form of 的.
** 朱力亞の手作包, →ISBN
** 打造個人化の網站 XOOPS 2.3.x 完全實戰手冊, →ISBN
** 梅問題の超質感商品攝影手法大公開, →ISBN

### Pronunciation 2

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): zhī (zhi$^1$)
    (Zhuyin): ㄓ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): zi$^1$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: zhī
*** Zhuyin: ㄓ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: jhih
*** Wade–Giles: chih$^1$
*** Yale: jr̄
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jy
*** Palladius: чжи (čži)
*** Sinological IPA : /ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: zi$^1$
*** Yale: jī
*** Cantonese Pinyin: dzi$^1$
*** Guangdong Romanization: ji$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡siː⁵⁵/

#### Particle

の
* Nonstandard form of 之 (zhī).
** 決戰時空の塔

#### Usage notes

Not used in running Chinese text in any region. It may be used as a shorthand, or to achieve visual, Japanese-style effect such as on signs, book titles, pamphlet covers or signboards, similar to faux Cyrillic.

## Japanese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [no̞]

### Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 乃 in the cursive sōsho style.

#### Syllable

の • (no)
* The hiragana syllable の (no). Its equivalent in katakana is ノ (no). It is the twenty-fifth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is な行お段 (na-gyō o-dan, “row na, section o”).

##### See also

* (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

### Etymology 2

* Alternative spellings
* 乃 (rare, literary) 之 (rare, literary)
⟨no$_2$⟩ → */nə/ → /no/
From Old Japanese の (no$_2$), in turn from Proto-Japonic *nə. Appears in common use in the Kojiki (712 CE). Perhaps also cognate with *nə, an element found in some Old Korean place names spelled as 乃 and 仍.
May be an apophonic form of Old Japanese particle な (na). This other form also appears in a similar function. However, its usage was already restricted to certain set expressions by the time of the earliest Japanese texts in the Nara period, with no clear examples of productive use. These appears to be adjacent to the vowels /a/, /o/, or /u/, suggesting na was an assimilated version of no.
In Old Japanese, there are three particles used productively to mark one noun modifying another:
* つ (tsu), as in 沖つ島守 (oki tsu shimamori, “the caretaker or watchman of an island of the offing [offshore]”) or 黄泉つ国 (yomo tsu kuni, “the country of the underworld”).
* が (ga), as in 関ヶ原 (Sekigahara, a placename, parseable as seki “checkpoint, barrier” + ga [possessive] + hara “field, plain”)
* の (no), as in 倭の一本薄 (Yamato no hitomoto susuki, “the sawtooth sedge of Yamato”, a line from one of the songs in the Kojiki)
The apophonic form な (na) persisted only as an element in certain compounds, such as 港 (minato, “harbor”, generally parsed as mi “water” + na [possessive] + to “door, gate” → port, landing, harbor), or 掌 (tanagokoro, “palm of the hand”, parsed as ta “hand” + na [possessive] + kokoro “heart, center”, changing to gokoro due to rendaku).

#### Particle

の • (no)
* genitive case marker
** indicates possession: of, -'s
    私(わたし)の意(い)見(けん) ― watashi no iken ― my opinion
** indicates identity or apposition
    大統(だいとう)領(りょう)のブッシュ氏(し) ― daitōryō no Busshu-shi ― the President, Mr. Bush
    山(やま)田(だ)の馬鹿(ばか)野(や)郎(ろう)！ ― Yamada no baka yarō! ― Yamada, you stupid jerk!
    山(やま)田(だ)の奴(やつ) ― Yamada no yatsu ― that dude Yamada
** a noun, adverb, or phrase modifier
    数学(すうがく)の分(ぶん)野(や) ― sūgaku no bun'ya ― the field of mathematics
    緑(みどり)の車(くるま) ― midori no kuruma ― green car (literally, “greenish car”)
    全(すべ)ての商(しょう)品(ひん) ― subete no shōhin ― all goods (literally, “all of [the] goods”)
    母(はは)への手(て)紙(がみ) ― haha e no tegami ― letter to mom
* nominative case marker in a relative or subordinate clause
    眉(まゆ)毛(げ)の濃(こ)い人(ひと) ― mayuge no koi hito ― a man whose eyebrow is thick
    Synonym: が (ga)
* a sentence ending that indicates emphasis or a question, depending on intonation
    不可(ふか)能(のう)じゃないの？ ― fukanō ja nai no? ― Isn't it impossible?
    聞(き)いてんの？ ― kiiten no? ― Are you listening?
* nominalizes an adjective, verb, or phrase; (with a verb) the act of ... -ing, (with an adjective) the concept of ... -ness
    Synonyms: 事 (koto), 物 (mono)
** 1908, Natsume Sōseki, “第一夜”, in Yume Jūya [Ten Nights of Dreaming]‎:
    それから星(ほし)の破片(かけ)の落(お)ちたのを拾(ひろ)って来(き)て、かろく土(つち)の上(うえ)へ乗(の)せた。
       Sore kara hoshi no kake no ochita no o hirottekite, karoku tsuchi no ue e noseta.
       Then I picked up the fallen pieces of stars and put them on the soil.
    食(た)べるのが大(だい)好(す)きだ。 ― taberu no ga daisuki da. ― I like eating very much.
* (literary) used with bare i-adjective stem
    懐(なつ)かしのうた ― natsukashi no uta ― nostalgic song
    麗(うるわ)しの君(きみ) ― uruwashi no kimi ― beautiful you
* As a separator when reading telephone numbers.
    私(わたし)の電話(でんわ)番号(ばんごう)は 0(ぜろ) 9(きゅう) 0(ぜろ) の 1(いち) 2(に) 3(さん) 4(よん) の 5(ご) 6(ろく) 7(なな) 8(はち) です。
       Watashi no denwa bangō wa zero kyū zero no ichi ni san yon no go roku nana hachi desu.
       My phone number is 090-1234-5678.

##### Usage notes

* In senses 3 and 4, だ (da) changes to the attributive な (na) when followed by の (no).
    可(か)能(のう)なの? ― kanō na no? ― Is it possible?
    色(いろ)がきれいなのがいい。 ― iro ga kirei na no ga ii. ― I prefer something with a beautiful color.
* For sense 3, use of の in declarative sentences for emphasis carries a female undertone, as compared with わ (wa).
* の is sometimes weakened into ん (n) in fixed compounds, such as 桜ん坊 (sakuranbō, “Japanese cherry”) or 飴ん棒 (amenbō, “lollipop”).

##### Derived terms

* のか (no ka)
* のだ (no da)
* ので (no de)
* のです (no desu)
* のに (no ni)
* のね (no ne)
* のは (no wa)
* のや (no ya)
* のよ (no yo)
* あの (ano)
* 天(あま)の (ama no), 天(あめ)の (ame no)
* 彼(かの) (kano)
* がの (ga no)
* この (kono)
* その (sono)
* だの (da no)
* 大(だい)の (dai no)
* ての (-te no), [Term?]
* どの
* なの (na no)
* 何(なに)の (nani no)
* への (e no)
* やの (ya no)
* よの (yo no)
* 世(よ)の (yo no)

#### See also

* Chinese:
    Mandarin: 的 (de), 之 (zhī)
* Korean: 의 (-ui)

### Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of の – see the following entry. :
| 【野】2 | [noun] an area, field [noun] the hidden part of a structure [prefix] wild [prefix] rustic, unsophisticated [proper noun] a surname |
(This term, の (no), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as の, see Category:Japanese kanji read as の.) :

### Etymology 4

Readings of various kanji.

#### Noun

の • (no)
* 篦: the shaft of an arrow; Pseudosasa japonica (arrow bamboo))
* 幅, 布: a unit of measurement for cloth breadth, approximately 36 centimeters

### References

* 1 2 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
* 1 2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ Vovin, Alexander (2013) “From Koguryo to T'amna”, in Korean Linguistics‎, volume 15, number 2 (PDF), John Benjamins Publishing Company, →DOI, pages 222-240

## Old Japanese
### Etymology 1

From Proto-Japonic *nə.
Pronunciation appears to be distinct from 野 (no$_1$, “plain, field”).

#### Particle

の (no$_2$)
* genitive case marker
** indicates possession: of, -'s
** indicates identity or apposition
** a noun, adverb, or phrase modifier

##### Derived terms

* この (ko$_2$no$_2$)
* その (so$_2$no$_2$)
* かの (kano$_2$)

##### See also

* つ (tu)
* が (ga)

### Etymology 2

Readings of various kanji.

#### Noun

の (no$_1$)
* 野: plain, field