奈何

Chinese

		how can one help	carry; what; how carry; what; how; why; which
trad. (奈何)		奈	何
simp. #(奈何)		奈	何
alternative forms		柰何

Pronunciation

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edit edit 奈何 奈河

Rime
Character	奈	奈	何
Reading #	1/2	2/2	1/2
Initial (聲)	泥 (8)	泥 (8)	匣 (33)
Final (韻)	泰 (25)	歌 (94)	歌 (94)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Departing (H)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I	I
Fanqie	奴帶切	奴箇切	胡歌切
Baxter	najH	naH	ha
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/nɑiH/	/nɑH/	/ɦɑ/
Pan Wuyun	/nɑiH/	/nɑH/	/ɦɑ/
Shao Rongfen	/nɑiH/	/nɑH/	/ɣɑ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/najH/	/naH/	/ɦa/
Li Rong	/nɑiH/	/nɑH/	/ɣɑ/
Wang Li	/nɑiH/	/nɑH/	/ɣɑ/
Bernard Karlgren	/nɑiH/	/nɑH/	/ɣɑ/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	nài	nuò	hé
Expected Cantonese Reflex	naai6	no6	ho4

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	奈	何
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	nài	hé
Middle Chinese	‹ najH ›	‹ ha ›
Old Chinese	/*nˁa[t]-s/	/*[ɡ]ˁaj/
English	cope with	what
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	奈	奈	何
Reading #	1/2	2/2	1/2
No.	9349	9350	7458
Phonetic component	奈	奈	可
Rime group	歌	祭	歌
Rime subdivision	1	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	奈	柰	何
Old Chinese	/*naːls/	/*naːds/	/*ɡaːl/

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): nàihé

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄞˋ ㄏㄜˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): noi⁶ ho⁴
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): nai-hò
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): nāi-hô͘ / nāi-hô / tā-ôa / ta-ôa / tāi-ôa

  (Teochew, Peng'im): nai⁶ ho²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)
    • Hanyu Pinyin: nàihé
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄞˋ ㄏㄜˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: nàihé
    • Wade–Giles: nai⁴-ho²
    • Yale: nài-hé
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: nayher
    • Palladius: найхэ (najxɛ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /naɪ̯⁵¹ xɤ³⁵/
    • Homophones:
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: noi⁶ ho⁴
    • Yale: noih hòh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: noi⁶ ho⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: noi⁶ ho⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nɔːi̯²² hɔː²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: nai-hò
    • Hakka Romanization System: nai ho^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: nai⁴ ho²
    • Sinological IPA: /nai̯⁵⁵ ho¹¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: nāi-hô͘
    • Tâi-lô: nāi-hôo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: naixhoo
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /nãi⁴¹⁻²² hɔ²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: nāi-hô
    • Tâi-lô: nāi-hô
    • Phofsit Daibuun: naixhooi
    • IPA (Taipei): /nãi³³⁻¹¹ ho²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /nãi³³⁻²¹ hɤ²³/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /nãi²²⁻²¹ ho²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /nãi²²⁻²¹ ho¹³/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, variant in Taiwan, Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tā-ôa
    • Tâi-lô: tā-uâ
    • Phofsit Daibuun: daxoaa
    • IPA (Xiamen): /ta²²⁻²¹ ua²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ta⁴¹⁻²² ua²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ta³³⁻²¹ ua²³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ta³³⁻¹¹ ua²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ta-ôa
    • Tâi-lô: ta-uâ
    • Phofsit Daibuun: da'oaa
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ta⁴⁴⁻³³ ua²³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ta⁴⁴⁻³³ ua²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tāi-ôa
    • Tâi-lô: tāi-uâ
    • Phofsit Daibuun: daixoaa
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tai²²⁻²¹ ua¹³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: nai⁶ ho²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: năi hó
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /nai³⁵⁻¹¹ ho⁵²/

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• Middle Chinese: najH|naH ha

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*nˤa[t]-s  [ɡ]ˤaj/

  (Zhengzhang): /*naːls|naːds  ɡaːl/

Adverb

奈何

1. (literary) how; what

   • 其自亡奈何？ [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Commentary of Gongyang, c. 206 BCE– 9 CE

     Qí zì wáng nàihé? [Pinyin]

     How did it die on its own?

2. (literary) what is to be done; what can be done
3. (literary) to no avail

Verb

奈⫽何 (verb-object)

1. (literary) to do something to somebody
2. to deal with; to cope with

Noun

奈何

1. (literary) way out

Derived terms

• 不奈何
• 奈何橋／奈何桥 (nàihéqiáo)
• 如之奈何 (rú zhī nàihé)
• 末奈何
• 民不畏死，奈何以死懼之／民不畏死，奈何以死惧之
• 沒做奈何處／没做奈何处
• 沒及奈何／没及奈何
• 沒奈何／没奈何 (mònàihé)
• 沒極奈何／没极奈何
• 沒計奈何／没计奈何
• 無可奈何／无可奈何 (wúkěnàihé)
• 無如奈何／无如奈何
• 無計奈何／无计奈何
• 綿綿不絕，縵縵奈何／绵绵不绝，缦缦奈何
• 莫可奈何

 

Japanese

Kanji in this term
奈	何
いかん
Grade: 4	Grade: 2
jukujikun

For pronunciation and definitions of 奈何 – see the following entry.

【如何いかん】 [noun] the whatevers, the whys and wherefores; however [it may be] [adverb] howsoever, however [it may be] Alternative spelling 奈

(This term, 奈何, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)