無

無 U+7121, 無 ← 焠[U+7120] CJK Unified Ideographs 焢 →[U+7122] Stroke order(cursive)

無 (Kangxi radical 86, 火+8, 12 strokes, Cangjie input 人廿火 (OTF), four-corner 80331, composition ⿱⿳𠂉卌一灬)

• 㒇, 嘸, 墲, 嫵, 幠, 㣳, 憮, 撫, 潕, 橅, 㷻, 璑, 膴, 瞴, 䌗, 蟱, 譕, 鄦, 甒, 鷡, 蕪, 廡, 䍢, 䉑

• 无 (Simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 673, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19113
• Dae Jaweon: page 1081, character 24
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2211, character 15
• Unihan data for U+7121

Pictogram (象形). A person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain.

This character is borrowed for “have no”, and the character 舞 (wǔ) is used for the original sense.

trad. 無 simp. 无 alternative forms

Core Sino-Tibetan. From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ma (“no, not”); cognate with Tibetan མ་ (ma, “not”) and Burmese မ (ma., “not”).

Cognate with:

• 微 (OC *mɯl, “not, no”)
• 毋 (OC *ma, “do not”)
• 勿 (OC *mɯd, “not, don’t”)
• 未 (OC *mɯds, “not yet, haven’t”)
• 靡 (OC *mralʔ, “not, no”)
• 亡 (OC *maŋ, “not have; to flee, to disappear, to die”)
• 沒 (OC *mɯːd, “to end, to disappear, to drown”)
• 莫 (OC *maːɡ, “none, nobody, nothing; do not; can not”)

Attested profusely in Classical Chinese, this word is the prototypical negation particle in the *m- series of Chinese negatives. In the oracle bone script, however, 無 is not frequently used, and its homophone (or near-homophone) 毋 (OC *ma) is used instead.

See 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ’, “not”) for more on negative particles in Old Chinese.

Perhaps related to 巫 (OC *ma, “shaman, wizard, magician, sorcerer, witch”).

無

1. (literary or Hakka, Min) to not have; there is not; there does not exist 天空無雲。／天空无云。 ― Tiānkōng wú yún. ― There is no cloud in the sky. 我無零星錢。 [Hokkien, trad.]我无零星钱。 [Hokkien, simp.]Góa bô lân-san-chîⁿ [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]I don’t have any change.
   • 也許一想起某某是唯一可鍾意　才來害怕無下次其實多麼諷刺 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]也许一想起某某是唯一可钟意　才来害怕无下次其实多么讽刺 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]jaa5 heoi2 jat1 soeng2 hei2 mau5 mau5 si6 wai4 jat1 ho2 zung1 ji3, coi4 loi4 hoi6 paa3 mou4 haa6 ci3 kei4 sat6 do1 mo1 fung3 ci3 [Jyutping]Maybe once I think of someone as the only one I can love, I would be afraid that there would not be a next time, but it’s actually quite ridiculous
2. (literary or Min) Negation particle preceding verbs and adjectives. not 無可／无可 ― wúkě ― can’t 我無求於你。／我无求于你。 ― Wǒ wú qiú yú nǐ. ― I want nothing from you.
3. (literary or Min) have not 我無共伊講。 [Hokkien, trad.]我无共伊讲。 [Hokkien, simp.]Góa bô kā i kóng. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]I didn’t tell him.
4. (literary or Hakka, Min) Interrogative particle. 汝會曉講閩南語無？ [Hokkien, trad.]汝会晓讲闽南语无？ [Hokkien, simp.]Lí ē-hiáu kóng Bân-lâm-gí-bô? [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]Can you speak Hokkien?
   • 晚來天欲雪，能飲一杯無？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]Wǎnlái tiān yù xuě, néng yǐn yī bēi wú? [Pinyin]Night comes and the sky seems like it might snow; could you drink a cup?
5. (Hakka, Min) if not; otherwise (placed at the start of a sentence)
6. (Hokkien, Teochew) Particle used after a verb to indicate that a goal has not or cannot been accomplished. 看無／看无 [Hokkien] ― khòaⁿ-bô [Pe̍h-ōe-jī] ― to not understand (when reading or viewing); to be unable to see 只個字在字典揣無。 [Teochew, trad.]只个字在字典揣无。 [Teochew, simp.]zi2 gai7 ri7 do6 ri7 diêng2 cuê7 bho5. [Peng’im]You can’t find this word in the dictionary.
7. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) regardless of; no matter whether
8. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) nothing; nil 從無到有／从无到有 ― cóng wú dào yǒu ― start from nothing, from scratch
9. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 毋 (wú, “do not”)
   • 無有封而不告。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]无有封而不告。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]From: Mencius, c. 4th century BCEWú yǒu fēng ér bù gào. [Pinyin]Do not allocate any demesne without reporting it.
10. without; -less; un- 無情／无情 ― wúqíng ― heartless 無理／无理 ― wúlǐ ― unreasonable 無邊／无边 ― wúbiān ― unlimited

• (interrogative particle) 未 (wèi), 嗎／吗 (ma), 否 (fǒu)

→ Peranakan Indonesian: bo trad. 無 simp. 无 alternative forms 嘸／呒

無

1. only used in 南無／南无 (nāmó)

For pronunciation and definitions of 無 – see 冇 (“to not have; to not exist; etc.”).(This character is a variant form of 冇).

• “無”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2026.
• “無”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014-
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “冇”, in 长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou: 世界图书出版有限公司 [World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.], →ISBN, page 385.
• 周存 [Zhōu, Cún], editor (2023), “无”, in 长汀话词典 CHANGTINGHUA CIDIAN [Dictionary of Changting Dialect] (overall work in Hakka and Mandarin), Guangzhou: 世界图书出版有限公司 [World Book Publishing Co., Ltd.], →ISBN, page 707.

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. nothing
2. nothingness
3. none
4. nil
5. not

• Go-on: む (mu, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: ぶ (bu, Jōyō)
• Tō-on: も (mo)
• Kun: ない (nai, 無い, Jōyō)、なみする (namisuru, 無みする)、なみする (namisuru, 無する)

Kanji in this term 無 むGrade: 4 goon Alternative spelling 无

From Middle Chinese 無 (MC mju). The 呉音 (goon), so likely an earlier borrowing.

• (Tokyo) む [múꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
• IPA(key): [mɯ̟]

無(む) • (mu)

1. nothing, nothingness
2. (Buddhism) mu; the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or other question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer).

• → English: mu

無(む) • (mu-)

1. non-, un-

Kanji in this term 無 ぶGrade: 4 kan’on

From Middle Chinese 無 (bu). The 漢音 (kan’on), so likely a later borrowing.

無(ぶ) • (bu-)

1. non-, un-

• 无, 橆

From Middle Chinese 無 (MC mju). Recorded as Middle Korean 무 (mwu) (Yale: mwu) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [mu]
• Phonetic hangul: [무]

無 (eumhun 없을 무 (eopseul mu))

1. hanja form? of 무 (“nothing”)
2. hanja form? of 무 (“no; non”)
3. hanja form? of 무 (“(Buddhism) the null set: neither yes nor no (in response to a koan or a question that mistakenly assumes an affirmative or negative answer)”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

無: Hán Việt readings: vô[1][2][3][4], mô[2] 無: Nôm readings: vô[1][2][4][5], mô[2][6][4]

1. chữ Hán form of vô (“without; -less; un-”)