硫黄

See also: 硫黃

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 硫黄 – see 硫黃 (“sulfur; sulphur; S”). (This term is the simplified form of 硫黃).
Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Japanese

Chemical element
S
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硫黄

Wikipedia ^ja

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
硫	黄
いおう
Grade: S	Grade: 2
jukujikun

Alternative spellings
硫黃 (kyūjitai) 硫磺

/juawa/ → /juwau/ → /iwau/ → /iwɔː/ → /iwoː/ → /ioː/

Originally a compound of 湯 (yu, “warm or hot water”) +‎ 泡 (awa, “bubble”), from the way that volcanic hot springs would often be accompanied by bubbles of sulfur gas.^[1]^[2]

The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓), from Chinese 硫黃 / 硫黄 (liúhuáng).

An alternative theory is that the character 硫 (“sulfur”) developed an on'yomi of yu instead of the usual goon of ru or kan'on of ryū, such that the reading is on'yomi.^[1] However, given that this particular sound shift is not found in other kanji readings, this derivation seems unlikely.

This is the most common reading for this term in modern Japanese.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) いおー [ìóó] (Heiban – [0])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [io̞ː]

Noun

硫黄(いおう) • (iō) ^{←いわう (iwau)^?}

sulfur (element)

Derived terms

硫黄(いおう)華(か) (iōka): flowers of sulfur
硫黄(いおう)山(やま) (iōyama): sulfur mine
硫黄(いおう)泉(せん) (iōsen): sulfur spring
硫黄(いおう)酸(さん)化(か)物(ぶつ) (iō sankabutsu): sulfur oxide
塩(えん)化(かい)硫黄(いおう) (enkai iō): sulfur chloride
三(さん)酸(さん)化(か)硫黄(いおう) (sansanka iō): sulfur trioxide
石(せっ)灰(かい)硫黄(いおう)合(ごう)剤(ざい) (sekkai iō gōzai): lime sulphur
二(に)酸(さん)化(か)硫黄(いおう) (nisanka iō): sulfur dioxide

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
硫	黄
ゆ Grade: S	おう Grade: 2
irregular

Alternative spellings
硫黃 (kyūjitai) 硫磺

/juawa/ → /juwau/ → /juwɔː/ → /juwoː/ → /juoː/

Other than the difference in phonetic shifts, the derivation is the same as for iō above.

This reading is rare, and possibly archaic.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) ゆおー [yùóó] (Heiban – [0])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [jɯ̟o̞ː]

Noun

硫(ゆ)黄(おう) • (yuō) ^{←ゆわう (yuwau)^?}

(rare, possibly archaic) sulfur (element)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[KDJ-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-3] 3.0 ^3.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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