Where does “夜中” come from?
夜中 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 夜, from Old Japanese よる, from Proto-Japonic yoru, from Proto-Japonic yo — night.
夜中 (Japanese): late at night, the middle of the night; midnight;...
Definitions
- late at night, the middle of the night; midnight;...
Ancestry of “夜中”, step by step
夜中 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Japanese 夜
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 夜 | night, evening |
| 2 | Old Japanese | よる | — |
| 3 | Proto-Japonic | yoru | night |
| 4 | Proto-Japonic | yo | night |
via Japanese 中
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 中 | middle, medium; average; neither good nor poor;... |
| 2 | Japanese | 中今 | the present, as a privileged moment in eternity |
| 3 | Japanese | 今 | now; just now; soon |
via Middle Chinese 夜中
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle Chinese | 夜中 | — |