何

何 U+4F55, 何 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4F55 ← 佔 [U+4F54] CJK Unified Ideographs 佖 → [U+4F56]

Stroke order

Stroke order

何 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 人一弓口 (OMNR), four-corner 2122₀, composition ⿰亻可)

• 哬, 𢬲, 𣵣, 𭨸, 𣒍, 𰚚, 𮴛, 𧨂, 𫳵, 𪱊
• 荷, 𥮆, 𫱖, 𱱖, 𨵅, 𢚨

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 98, character 15
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 511
• Dae Jaweon: page 208, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 130, character 4
• Unihan data for U+4F55

simp. and trad.		何
alternative forms		⿰彳可

In the oracle bone script, a pictogram (象形): a man carrying something on their shoulder – the original form of 荷 (OC *ɡaːlʔ, “to carry”).

The object being carried may have been 戈 (gē), in which case the character is also an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 戈 (OC *koːl, “dagger-axe”).

In the bronze inscriptions, some forms of the character were phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɡaːl, *ɡaːlʔ): semantic 人 (“person”) + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ), from which the modern form derives.

Cognate with the following interrogative pronouns:

• 胡 (OC *ɡaː, “what; why”)
• 奚 (OC *ɡeː, “what; why; where”)
• 曷 (OC *ɡaːd, “why”)
• 盍 (OC *ɡaːb, “why not”): from the fusion of 何不 (OC *ɡaːl pɯ, “why not”)

In Sino-Tibetan, cognate with Tibetan ག་ན (ga na, “where; how”), Tibetan ག་རུ (ga ru, “to where”) (Schuessler, 2007).

STEDT, on the other hand, compares 何 (OC *ɡaːlʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ka (“which; like; deictic; interrogative”), to which 幾 (OC *kɯlʔ, “how many”) and 豈 (OC *ŋ̊ʰɯlʔ, “how”) are also compared.

何

1. (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for the specification of an identity, quantity, quality, etc. of something) what; which

   何處／何处  ―  héchù  ―  where [lit. what place]

   何日  ―  hérì  ―  what day; when

   • 伯夷、叔齊何人也？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     伯夷、叔齐何人也？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Bó Yí, Shū Qí hérén yě? [Pinyin]

     What sort of men were Bo Yi and Shu Qi?

   • 王曰：「何謂朝雲？」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     王曰：「何谓朝云？」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Song Yu, 高唐賦

     Wáng yuē: “Héwèi zhāo yún?” [Pinyin]

     The king said, "What is this so-called 'Morning Clouds'?"

   • 大王來何操？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     大王来何操？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Dàwáng lái hé cāo? [Pinyin]

     Your Majesty, what did you bring along?

2. (literary) where; what place

   何去何從／何去何从  ―  héqùhécóng  ―  what course to follow or take

   • 忠且見棄，軫不之楚何歸乎？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     忠且见弃，轸不之楚何归乎？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Zhōng qiě jiàn qì, zhěn bù zhī chǔ hé guī hū? [Pinyin]

     Being loyal to the state yet still abandoned, where can I (Chen Zhen) go if I do not go to Chu?

   • 士生於世，使其中不自得，將何往而非病？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     士生于世，使其中不自得，将何往而非病？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1083, 蘇轍 (Su Zhe), 黃州快哉亭記

     Shì shēng yú shì, shǐ qí zhōng bù zìdé, jiāng hé wǎng ér fēi bìng? [Pinyin]

     If an intellectual living in the world does not feel happy, where can he go and not feel anxious?

3. (literary, interrogative pronoun asking for reason, manner, etc. of an action) why; how

   何必  ―  hébì  ―  why must you

   何不  ―  hébù  ―  why not

   • 夫子何哂由也？ [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

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

     Fūzǐ hé shěn Yóu yě? [Pinyin]

     Master, why did you smile at You?

   • 亦何憂令名不彰邪？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     亦何忧令名不彰邪？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Liu Yiqing (editor), A New Account of the Tales of the World, 5^th century CE

     Yì hé yōu lìngmíng bù zhāng xié? [Pinyin]

     Why do you worry about being not famous?

4. (literary, forming emphatic sentences) so; such; what; how

   • 秦皇掃六合，虎視何雄哉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     秦皇扫六合，虎视何雄哉。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 8th century, 李白, 古風·其三

     Qínhuáng sǎo liù hé, hǔshì hé xióng zāi. [Pinyin]

     Qin Shi Huang conquered the six kingdoms with a sweeping victory. How great he is when he unified the world and looked down upon it.

5. a surname

   何應欽／何应钦  ―  Hé Yìngqīn  ―  He Yingqin (Kuomintang general)

   何鴻燊／何鸿燊 [Cantonese]  ―  ho⁴ hung⁴ san¹ [Jyutping]  ―  Stanley Ho (Hong Kong billionaire)

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:何.

• → English: He, Ho
• → Tagalog: Ho (via Hokkien)

何

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Original form of 荷 (“to carry”).

何

1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) Original form of 呵 (“to scold; to criticise; to denounce”).

• “何”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 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), A00111
• “何”, 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., 2025.

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. what

• Go-on: が (ga)^{←が (ga, historical)}
• Kan-on: か (ka, Jōyō)^{←か (ka, historical)}
• Kun: なに (nani, 何, Jōyō)^{←なに (nani, 何, historical)}、なん (nan, 何, Jōyō ^†)^{←なん (nan, 何, historical)}、いず (izu, 何)^{←いづ (idu, 何, historical)}、いずれ (izure, 何れ)^{←いづれ (idure, 何れ, historical)}、いずく (izuku, 何く)^{←いづく (iduku, 何く, historical)}
• Nanori: あが (aga)

Kanji in this term
何
なに Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Kanji in this term
何
なん Grade: 2
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *n-anu-.

• (Tokyo) なに [náꜜnì] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [na̠ɲ̟i]

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Tokyo) なん [náꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [nã̠ɴ]

何(なに) • (nani) 

1. what?, huh?

何(なに) or 何(なん) • (nani or nan) 

1. what
   • 794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki, page 92:

     汝何所爲 奈尓世牟止曽

     What you should do. Nani se mu tö sö.

2. that thing (used in place of words you can't remember at the moment.)

何(なに) • (nani) 

1. (in the negative) any, whatsoever, at all

   Synonyms: 何一つ, 全く

   何(なに)不(ふ)自(じ)由(ゆう)なく ― nani fujiyū naku ― without any inconvenience

2. what for? why?

   Synonym: なぜ

   何(なに)泣(な)いてんの？ ― nani naitenno? ― What are you crying for?

• 何 is usually read as なに, but before だ, で, の, it is read as なん. When followed by で, both readings are possible, albeit with different meanings.

• 何(ど)れ (dore) which one?
• 何(ど)の (dono) (of) what?
• 何(ど)処(こ) (doko) where?
• 何(ど)方(ちら) (dochira) which way?
• 如何(どう) (dō) in what manner?

• → Chinese: 納尼 / 纳尼 (nàní)
• → English: nani

何(なん) • (nan-) 

1. what number, how many (used with a counter)
2. (used with も) many (used with a counter)

   この広(こう)告(こく)を何(なん)回(かい)も見(み)た

   kono kōkoku o nankai mo mita

   I've seen this ad many times

Kanji in this term
何
ど Grade: 2
kun'yomi

• IPA^(key): [do̞]

何(ど) • (do-) 

1. indeterminate prefix, used to form question words

• Unknown (794) Yoshinori Kobayashi, editor, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki (Kojisho Ongi Shūsei) (in Japanese), volume 1, Kyūko Shoin, published 1978, →ISBN.

From Middle Chinese 何 (MC ha).

Wikisource

何 (eumhun 어찌 하 (eojji ha))

1. hanja form^? of 하 (“how; what”)

• 하필 (何必, hapil)
• 기하학 (幾何學, gihahak)
• 육하원칙 (六何原則, yukhawonchik)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: ぬー (nū, 何)

• IPA^(key): /nuː/

何(ぬー) (nū) 

1. what

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: のー (nō, 何)、なう (nau, 何)

• IPA^(key): /noː/

何(のー) (nō) 

1. what

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: ぬー (nū, 何)

• IPA^(key): /nuː/

何(ぬー) (nū) 

1. what

何: Hán Nôm readings: hà, gã, há

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Nom Foundation

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: のー (nō, 何)

• IPA^(key): /noː/

何(のー) (nō) 

1. what

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: ぬー (nū, 何)

• IPA^(key): /nuː/

何(ぬー) (nū) 

1. what