能 · néng
to be able; can, permitted to; ability
Meanings & readings
Meaning & readings
to be able; can, permitted to; ability
- Mandarin
- néng
- Cantonese
- nang4
Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 能 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Source record & scope
Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property
ノウ ドウ ダイ ナイ タイ キュウ グ あたう たえる はたらき よくするKorean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 능
- KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Character readings · Quốc ngữ
Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.
Go deeperHán Việt (Thi Viện) ↗Wiktionary ↗
Form & structure
Writing & identity
- Unicode
- U+80FD
- Radical
- 肉 · 130
- Strokes
- 10 · Unihan
- Residual
- 6
Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.
Stroke order
10 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.
Graphical structure
How to read these symbols
⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.
BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.
Words & connections
Words using 能
Character connections
Sentence context · 2 matches
谁也不能帮我。
Source, contributors & licenses
Mandarin: Tatoeba #396076 · Original contributor: FeuDRenais · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: GlossaMatik
English: Tatoeba #40350 · Original contributor: Kristinka · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: CK
Source text unchanged. Original contributor and text editors are credited from the source log, separately from the current owner.
History & distinctions
Related forms
No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- noj · 奴來 反切 · #397
- Middle Chinese
- nong · 奴登 反切 · #980
- Middle Chinese
- nongX · 奴等 反切 · #1926
- Middle Chinese
- nojH · 奴代 反切 · #2536
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 3438 · noj = 蟹開一平咍泥 · nong = 曾開一平登泥 · nongX = 曾開一上登泥 · nojH = 蟹開一去咍泥
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Evidence & next depth
Retained Unihan properties
- kMandarin
- néng
- kCantonese
- nang4
- kDefinition
- to be able; can, permitted to; ability
- kTotalStrokes
- 10
- kRSUnicode
- 130.6
- kGradeLevel
- 1
- kTGH
- 2013:2146
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- néng,tái,nái,nài,xióng 32074.010
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- néng 0825.040
- Tongyong Guifan · 2013
- néng 264.040
- Reading counts · XDHYPLCD
- néng(5594)
- Mandarin / Cantonese · SMSZD
- néng粵nang4
Reference desk
- Fanqie spellings
- 奴來 奴登 奴等 奴代
- Kangxi positions
- 0981.160
- Guangyun positions
- 101.08 201.53 321.06 390.50
- GSR references
- 0885a
- Cangjie
- IBPP
- Four-corner
- 2121.1