今宵

今宵

Chinese

		today; modern; present today; modern; present; current; this; now	night
trad. (今宵)		今	宵
simp. #(今宵)		今	宵

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jīnxiāo

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄣ ㄒㄧㄠ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gam¹ siu¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: jīnxiāo
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄣ ㄒㄧㄠ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jinshiau
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕin⁵⁵ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: gam¹ siu¹
    • Yale: gām sīu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gam¹ siu¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: gem¹ xiu¹
    • IPA ^(key): /kɐm⁵⁵ siːu̯⁵⁵/

Noun

今宵

1. tonight

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 今晚 (“tonight; this evening”) [map]
Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		今夕
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		今晚, 今夜, 今宵
Mandarin	Beijing	今晚, 今天晚上, 今兒晚上
	Taiwan	今天晚上
Cantonese	Guangzhou	今晚, 今晚黑
	Hong Kong	今晚, 今晚黑
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	暗晡夜, 今暗晡
	Liudui (S. Sixian)	暗晡夜, 今暗晡
	Hsinchu (Hailu)	暗晡夜, 今暗晡
	Dongshi (Dabu)	暗夜, 暗晡夜, 今暗晡
	Hsinchu (Raoping)	暗晡夜, 今暗晡
	Yunlin (Zhao'an)	暗夜, 今日暗夜, 今日暗晡
	Sabah	今晚夜
Min Dong	Fuzhou	今旦晡, 今晡
Min Nan	Quanzhou	今暝
	Zhangzhou	今暝
	Taipei	下暗, 下昏暗
	Kaohsiung	下暗, 下昏暗
	Tainan	下昏暗
	Lukang	下昏暗
	Sanxia	下昏暗
	Penang	今暝
	Philippines (Manila)	今仔暗
	Chaozhou	今暝

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
今	宵
こ Grade: 2	よい Grade: S
Irregular	kun’yomi

Etymology

⟨ko₂ yo₂pi₁⟩ → */kəjəpʲi/ → /kojofi/ → /kojowi/ → /kojoi/

From Old Japanese. Compound of 此 (ko, “this”) +‎ 宵 (yoi, “evening”).[1][2]

The use of 今 (“now”) to spell the ko ("this") portion is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓), from Chinese 今宵.

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) こよい [kòyóí] (Heiban – [0])[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [ko̞jo̞i]

Noun

今宵 (hiragana こよい, rōmaji koyoi, historical hiragana こよひ)

1. this evening, tonight
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3469),[4] text here

     由 (ゆ)布 (ふ)氣 (け)尓 (に)毛 (も)許 (こ)余 (よ)比 (ひ)登 (と)乃 (の)良 (ら)路 (ろ)和 (わ)賀 (が)西 (せ)奈 (な)波 (は)阿 (あ)是 (ぜ)曽 (ぞ)母 (も)許 (こ)与 (よ)比 (ひ)与 (よ)斯 (し)呂 (ろ)伎 (き)麻 (ま)左 (さ)奴 (ぬ) [Man'yōgana]

     夕 (ゆふ)占 (け)にもこよひと告 (の)らろ我 (わ)が背 (せ)なはあぜぞもこよひ寄 (よ)しろ来 (き)まさぬ [Modern spelling]

     yūke ni mo koyoi to noraro waga sena wa aze zo mo koyoi yoshiro-kimasenu

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   Synonyms: 今晩 (konban), 今夜 (kon'ya)

2. (in the morning, from the perspective of “this night (that has just ended)”) last night

   Synonyms: 昨晩 (sakuban), 夕べ (yūbe)

References

1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
3. 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
4. Satake, Akihiro; Hideo Yamada; Rikio Kudō; Masao Ōtani; Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (c. 759) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 3: Man’yōshū 3 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 2002, →ISBN.