<p>There is <em><strong>no</strong></em> <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/s62aW.png" alt="那字旁" /> radical, but the left part of 那 can be</p>
<blockquote>
<h1>冄 rǎn (the same as 冉)</h1>
<p>U+5184</p>
<h3>Seal Script</h3>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/oVQNp.gif" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's because in the seal script, 那 is written as</p>
<blockquote>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/rM7pV.gif" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<p>The left part is 冄, and the right part (radical) is 邑. So in 說文解字, it is described as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>从邑，冄聲。</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>But it is better not to call 冄 a &quot;radical&quot;, because modern dictionaries and older dictionaries haven't listed it as a radical.</p>
<p>It is interesting in 康熙字典, 那 has these interchangeable characters:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/IF7yb.gif" alt="enter image description here" /> <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/A4WOe.gif" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
</blockquote>
<p>But they are obsolete now, you should not use them.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T01:07:55.350Z
2013-10-12T01:07:55.350Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Stan
<p><strong>The component is 「冄」, which is now written as 「冉」.</strong> The relevant Unicode codepoints are:</p>

<ul>
<li>「冄」, reconstructed full character, U+5184</li>
<li>「冉」, modern character, U+5189</li>
<li>「  」, left hand component of「那」, <a href="http://en.glyphwiki.org/wiki/u2d0c2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">U+2D0C2</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJK_Unified_Ideographs_Extension_F" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CJK Unified Ideographs Extension F</a>; unlikely to be displayed on most computers). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_description_language#Ideographic_Description_Sequences" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ideographic description sequences</a> record this component as「⿻二刀」.</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>「那」 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Baxter%E2%80%93Sagart_(2014)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Baxter-Sagart OC</a>: <strong>/*nˤar/</strong>), originally referring to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_(Chinese_state)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">State of Na</a>, is comprised of phonetic 「冄」 (<strong>/*nam/</strong>) and semantic 「邑・阝」 (<em>town</em>, <em>city</em>). The meaning <em>that</em> is a late derivative of 「若」 (as according to Schuessler; Baxter-Sagart OC: <strong>/*nak/</strong>), and uses 「那」 as a phonetic loan.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>For reference, the shapes of「那」are recorded as the following:</p>
  
  <p><kbd><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">篆</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/T0m4Y.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/T0m4Y.png" alt="enter image description here"></a><br><a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&amp;file=77390&amp;page=89" rel="nofollow noreferrer">邑部</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">說文解字</a></kbd><kbd>今<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">楷</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4xP8n.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4xP8n.png" alt="enter image description here"></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>
</blockquote>

<p>「冄」 depicts <em>loose-hanging, soft feathers</em>:</p>

<p><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou" rel="nofollow noreferrer">西周</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">金</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/kzDHZ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kzDHZ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a><br>師㝨簋<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=4313&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成4313</a></kbd><kbd><br>篆<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/X8r4Q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/X8r4Q.png" alt="enter image description here"></a><br><a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&amp;file=77391&amp;page=59" rel="nofollow noreferrer">冄部</a><br>說文解字</kbd><kbd><br><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B6%E5%AE%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">隸定</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/aV3UC.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/aV3UC.png" alt="enter image description here"></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>

<p>Clerical script styles later added a vertical stroke, leading on to the modern shape.</p>

<p><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_han" rel="nofollow noreferrer">東漢</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">隸</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/b8g4X.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/b8g4X.png" alt="enter image description here"></a><br>鄭固碑<br>　</kbd><kbd>今<br>楷<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/BGJ7l.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/BGJ7l.png" alt="enter image description here"></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>

<p>The original meaning of the character is now written as 「髯」 (<em>beard</em>/<em>moustache</em>). The word <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%89%E5%86%89" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「冉冉」</a> (<em>slowly</em>/<em>loose hanging</em>) is an extension of the original meaning.</p>

<hr>

<h1>References:</h1>

<ul>
<li>季旭昇《說文新證》</li>
<li>李學勤《字源》</li>
<li><a href="http://chinese-linguipedia.org/search_source.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">中華語文知識庫・漢字源流</a></li>
<li><a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">小學堂</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">國學大師</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-30T14:00:08.800Z
2020-03-25T00:02:12.307Z
2020-03-25T00:02:12.307Z
dROOOze
<p>If you use the too <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/tools/windows/native2ascii.html" rel="nofollow">native2ascii</a>  you can convert any character / text to its ASCII representation.</p>

<p>Applied to 那字旁 阝you get \u90a3\u5b57\u65c1 \u961d</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T07:09:56.097Z
Now what does this show? So `native2ascii` can go from font characters to Unicode code points? The question is concerned with interpreting a bitmap. If I consult the [Unihan database](http://www.unicode.org/charts/unihan.html) I can go both ways between characters and code points but still not start from a bitmap. BTW, if I apply Chinese OCR to na4zi4pang2, it fails.
Drux
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T01:19:38.907Z
2013-10-12T01:19:38.907Z
susis strolch
<p>(This answer strictly speaks to the question. There is also some good, related information in the other answers you may find interesting.)</p>

<p><code>Na4zi4pang2</code> is Pinyin for <code>那字旁</code>, literally 'the radical from 那'. It's the name of the radical instead of pronunciation for a character.</p>

<p>I am not an expert in character classification and (de)composition, I don't know in linguistics whether radicals are prescribed or can be defined by usage, hence I am unable to tell you whether the left side of <code>那</code> is indeed a radical, is not a radical because Kangxi Dictionary didn't list it, or is not a radical because of some deeper logic. </p>

<p>But we can be sure that it is not a character, and I don't think there is a Unicode character for it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:30:59.163Z
[](http://www.zdic.net/z/a6/kx/2867B.htm) or [](http://www.zdic.net/z/a6/kx/28697.htm) is the origin of `那`. Why not consider 冄 as `那字旁`?
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:34:14.327Z
@Stan Because I couldn't find any reference to support that, and I don't possess the expert knowledge to disambiguate when there is neither reference for it nor against it.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:35:07.650Z
+1 and BTW I've also upvoted @Stan's very informed answer.
Drux
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:37:50.850Z
@NS.X. I think 說文解字's statement "从邑，冄聲" has clearly pointed out the radical and the phonetic part of 那 XD
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:49:38.223Z
@Stan Exactly because 冄 is (was) a standalone character, it would have been called 冄字旁, like all the other radicals that are also characters. The name 那字旁 implies it is referring to a non-character component.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:55:50.830Z
@NS.X. I doubt it is because the author of *New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook* is lazy to introduce the origin of 那 and then simply call the left part of 那 `那字旁`. Anyway, a beginner doesn't need to know the details.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:24:48.727Z
2013-10-12T09:24:48.727Z
NS.X.
<p>The <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/7561910401" rel="nofollow noreferrer">New Practical Chinese Reader</a> introduces the following <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/3501/how-does-cjk-decomposition-compare-to-the-wikimedia-commons-chinese-characters-d">decomposition</a>: na4 (那) = na4zi4pang2 + yi4 (阝).</p>

<p>I understand that 阝 represents <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%98%9D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">radical 163</a> (yi4).</p>

<p>Na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) looks close to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%BD%89" rel="nofollow noreferrer">radical 74</a> (yue4, 月), but only close. It apparently is not a proper Chinese word or phrase that can be looked up in a dictionary.</p>

<p>My current guess that it is an arbitrary construct for a situation where one of the basic constituents of a composite character is not another basic character nor a radical, yet something that is also made up of strokes, and that the pinyin name is the concatenation of stroke names.</p>

<p>Could an expert and/or native speaker please confirm or otherwise clarify. I'm especially interested whether such constructs have Unicode font representations (and what the Unicode representation U+<em>xxxx</em> of na4zi4pang2 would then be).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-11T21:06:19.467Z
Na4zi4pang2 is Pinyin for '那字旁', literally 'the radical from 那'. I don't think there is a Unicode character for this radical.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T01:14:20.363Z
@NS.X. You have a Unicode for nearly all characters (depends on the version).
susis strolch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T04:49:33.553Z
@susisstrolch But that radical is not a character. It would be great if there is a Unicode character for it.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T06:44:55.670Z
@NS.X. +1 I see. The verbatim translation of the pinyin really helped here. What I'm taking away from your comment (BTW, if you want to post it as answer, I would be inclined to accept it as the answer) also is that the term radical need not refer to the 214 radicals from the Kangxi dictionary alone.
Drux
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-12T09:30:21.273Z
I did as you suggested, to provide an answer that strictly speaks to the question. You've already got all the information you needed from the comments and @Stan's answer, but precision questioning and answering is a good thing to maintain for Q/A sites:)
NS.X.
<characters><pinyin>
What is na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) in the decomposition of na4 (那)?
# What is na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) in the decomposition of na4 (那)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-10-11)

The [New Practical Chinese Reader](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/7561910401) introduces the following [decomposition](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/3501/how-does-cjk-decomposition-compare-to-the-wikimedia-commons-chinese-characters-d): na4 (那) = na4zi4pang2 + yi4 (阝).

I understand that 阝 represents [radical 163](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%98%9D) (yi4).

Na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) looks close to [radical 74](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%BD%89) (yue4, 月), but only close. It apparently is not a proper Chinese word or phrase that can be looked up in a dictionary.

My current guess that it is an arbitrary construct for a situation where one of the basic constituents of a composite character is not another basic character nor a radical, yet something that is also made up of strokes, and that the pinyin name is the concatenation of stroke names.

Could an expert and/or native speaker please confirm or otherwise clarify. I'm especially interested whether such constructs have Unicode font representations (and what the Unicode representation U+*xxxx* of na4zi4pang2 would then be).

**Tags:** characters, pinyin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Na4zi4pang2 is Pinyin for '那字旁', literally 'the radical from 那'. I don't think there is a Unicode character for this radical.  
> **username_2**: @NS.X. You have a Unicode for nearly all characters (depends on the version).  
> **username_1**: @username_2 But that radical is not a character. It would be great if there is a Unicode character for it.  
> **username_0**: @NS.X. +1 I see. The verbatim translation of the pinyin really helped here. What I'm taking away from your comment (BTW, if you want to post it as answer, I would be inclined to accept it as the answer) also is that the term radical need not refer to the 214 radicals from the Kangxi dictionary alone.  
> **username_1**: I did as you suggested, to provide an answer that strictly speaks to the question. You've already got all the information you needed from the comments and @username_3's answer, but precision questioning and answering is a good thing to maintain for Q/A sites:)  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-10-12. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

(This answer strictly speaks to the question. There is also some good, related information in the other answers you may find interesting.)

`Na4zi4pang2` is Pinyin for `那字旁`, literally 'the radical from 那'. It's the name of the radical instead of pronunciation for a character.

I am not an expert in character classification and (de)composition, I don't know in linguistics whether radicals are prescribed or can be defined by usage, hence I am unable to tell you whether the left side of `那` is indeed a radical, is not a radical because Kangxi Dictionary didn't list it, or is not a radical because of some deeper logic.

But we can be sure that it is not a character, and I don't think there is a Unicode character for it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: [](http://www.zdic.net/z/a6/kx/2867B.htm) or [](http://www.zdic.net/z/a6/kx/28697.htm) is the origin of `那`. Why not consider 冄 as `那字旁`?  
> **username_1**: @username_3 Because I couldn't find any reference to support that, and I don't possess the expert knowledge to disambiguate when there is neither reference for it nor against it.  
> **username_0**: +1 and BTW I've also upvoted @username_3's very informed answer.  
> **username_3**: @NS.X. I think 說文解字's statement "从邑，冄聲" has clearly pointed out the radical and the phonetic part of 那 XD  
> **username_1**: @username_3 Exactly because 冄 is (was) a standalone character, it would have been called 冄字旁, like all the other radicals that are also characters. The name 那字旁 implies it is referring to a non-character component.  
> **username_3**: @NS.X. I doubt it is because the author of *New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook* is lazy to introduce the origin of 那 and then simply call the left part of 那 `那字旁`. Anyway, a beginner doesn't need to know the details.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2013-10-12. Score: 7

There is ***no*** ![那字旁](https://i.sstatic.net/s62aW.png) radical, but the left part of 那 can be

> # 冄 rǎn (the same as 冉)
>
> U+5184
>
> ### Seal Script
>
> ![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/oVQNp.gif)

That's because in the seal script, 那 is written as

> ![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/rM7pV.gif)
>
> The left part is 冄, and the right part (radical) is 邑. So in 說文解字, it is described as
>
> > 从邑，冄聲。

But it is better not to call 冄 a "radical", because modern dictionaries and older dictionaries haven't listed it as a radical.

It is interesting in 康熙字典, 那 has these interchangeable characters:

> ![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/IF7yb.gif) ![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/A4WOe.gif)

But they are obsolete now, you should not use them.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-09-30. Score: 4

**The component is 「冄」, which is now written as 「冉」.** The relevant Unicode codepoints are:

* 「冄」, reconstructed full character, U+5184
* 「冉」, modern character, U+5189
* 「 」, left hand component of「那」, [U+2D0C2](http://en.glyphwiki.org/wiki/u2d0c2) ([CJK Unified Ideographs Extension F](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJK_Unified_Ideographs_Extension_F); unlikely to be displayed on most computers). [Ideographic description sequences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_description_language#Ideographic_Description_Sequences) record this component as「⿻二刀」.

---

「那」 ([Baxter-Sagart OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Baxter%E2%80%93Sagart_(2014)): **/\*nˤar/**), originally referring to the [State of Na](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_(Chinese_state)), is comprised of phonetic 「冄」 (**/\*nam/**) and semantic 「邑・阝」 (*town*, *city*). The meaning *that* is a late derivative of 「若」 (as according to Schuessler; Baxter-Sagart OC: **/\*nak/**), and uses 「那」 as a phonetic loan.

> For reference, the shapes of「那」are recorded as the following:
>
> `篆  
> ![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/T0m4Y.png)  
> 邑部  
> 說文解字``今  
> 楷  
> ![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4xP8n.png)`

「冄」 depicts *loose-hanging, soft feathers*:

`西周  
金  
![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/kzDHZ.png)  
師㝨簋  
集成4313` `篆  
![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/X8r4Q.png)  
冄部  
說文解字` `隸定  
![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/aV3UC.png)`

Clerical script styles later added a vertical stroke, leading on to the modern shape.

`東漢  
隸  
![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/b8g4X.png)  
鄭固碑``今  
楷  
![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/BGJ7l.png)`

The original meaning of the character is now written as 「髯」 (*beard*/*moustache*). The word [「冉冉」](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%89%E5%86%89) (*slowly*/*loose hanging*) is an extension of the original meaning.

---

# References:

* 季旭昇《說文新證》
* 李學勤《字源》
* [中華語文知識庫・漢字源流](http://chinese-linguipedia.org/search_source.html)
* [小學堂](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/)
* [國學大師](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/)


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-10-12. Score: -2

If you use the too [native2ascii](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/tools/windows/native2ascii.html) you can convert any character / text to its ASCII representation.

Applied to 那字旁 阝you get \u90a3\u5b57\u65c1 \u961d

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Now what does this show? So `native2ascii` can go from font characters to Unicode code points? The question is concerned with interpreting a bitmap. If I consult the [Unihan database](http://www.unicode.org/charts/unihan.html) I can go both ways between characters and code points but still not start from a bitmap. BTW, if I apply Chinese OCR to na4zi4pang2, it fails.  

---

