夜

夜 (Kangxi radical 36, 夕+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 卜人弓大 (YONK), four-corner 0024₇, composition ⿱亠⿰亻⿴夂丶)

• 液, 鵺, 腋, 掖, 𨿤

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 246, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5763
• Dae Jaweon: page 490, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 285, character 1
• Unihan data for U+591C

Historical forms of the character 夜
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *laːɡs) : phonetic 亦 (OC *laːɡ) + semantic 夕 (“moon”). 夕 (OC *ljaːɡ) may also serve as another phonetic component.

The lower-right portion is a corruption/graphical variant of 夕 (xī); the remainder (亠 + 亻) is a reduced and distorted form of 亦 (yì), used phonetically.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ja-n (“night”) (STEDT); cognate with Mizo zân (“night”), Burmese ည (nya., “night”).

Schuessler (2007) believes 夜 (OC *laːɡs) and 夕 (OC *ljaːɡ) are distinct as Tibeto-Burman keeps the etyma *ja-n (“night”) and *s-r(j)ak (“day; day (24 hours); night”) strictly separate. However, Baxter and Sagart (2014) suggest that 夜 (yè) and 夕 (xī) have clear etymological connections and thus reconstructs similar finals in both words.

夜

1. night

   See also: 晚

   晝短夜長／昼短夜长  ―  zhòu duǎn yè cháng  ―  short days and long nights

   • 夜來風雨聲，花落知多少？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     夜来风雨声，花落知多少？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Meng Haoran, 《春曉》, translated by Xu Yuanchong

     Yè lái fēngyǔ shēng, huā luò zhī duōshǎo? [Pinyin]

     After one night of wind and showers, how many are the fallen flowers!

2. (Cantonese) late (in the night)

   我呢排晚晚都好夜先返屋企。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   ngo⁵ ni¹ paai⁴ maan⁵ maan⁵ dou¹ hou² je⁶ sin¹ faan¹ uk¹ kei². [Jyutping]

   Recently, I've been going home quite late in the night.

   我夜啲先走都得。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   ngo⁵ je⁶ di¹ sin¹ zau² dou¹ dak¹. [Jyutping]

   I can leave later in the evening.

3. Classifier for the number of nights.

   三天兩夜／三天两夜  ―  sān tiān liǎng yè  ―  three days and two nights

4. (Cantonese) night shift; night work

• “夜”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00843

夜

1. (Southern Min) Alternative form of 暝

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: や (ya, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: や (ya, Jōyō)
• Kun: よ (yo, 夜, Jōyō); よる (yoru, 夜, Jōyō)
• Nanori: やす (yasu)

⟨yo₁ru⟩ → */jʷoru/ → /joru/

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *yoru.

Derived from yo below, suffixed with an element ru of unclear meaning.[1] Compare 日 (hi, “day”) → 昼 (hiru, “daytime”), which seems to use this same ru element.[1]

Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 C.E., with the phonetic spelling 用流.[1]

Now the most common term for night in modern Japanese.

• (Tokyo) よ​る [yóꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [jo̞ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

夜(よる) • (yoru) 

1. the night, evening

   Synonym: 夜間 (yakan)

   Antonym: 昼 (hiru)

   東(とう)京(きょう)の夜(よる)

   Tōkyō no yoru

   Tokyo nights

   夜(よる)の街(まち)を歩(ある)く

   yoru no machi o aruku

   to walk the streets at night

   (literally, “to walk the night streets”)

   不(ふ)安(あん)な夜(よる)を過(す)ごす

   fuan na yoru o sugosu

   to endure a night of anxiety

   (literally, “to pass an uneasy night”)

   夜(よる)の星(ほし)空(ぞら)を見(み)上(あ)げる

   yoru no hoshizora o miageru

   to look up at the night's starry sky

夜(よる) • (Yoru) 

1. a female given name

⟨yo₁⟩ → /jʷo/ → /jo/

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *yo.

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE with the phonetic spelling 用.[1]

In modern development, this term has taken on a more literary sense.

• (Tokyo) よ​ [yóꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [jo̞]

夜(よ) • (yo) 

1. (literary) night, evening

   『真(ま)夏(なつ)の夜(よ)の夢(ゆめ)』 ― “Manatsu no Yo no Yume” ― A Midsummer Night’s Dream