Nanping
/nænˈpɪŋ/noun
Nanping is a city and prefecture-level city in Fujian Province, China.
Did you know?The Chinese character 平 can mean “peaceful,” “level,” or “to pacify,” so Nanping’s name can suggest either a peaceful southern place or the imposition of order.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Sino-Tibetan / Old Chinese
Old Chinese
南 · 平
“The ancestral Chinese morphemes meant “south” and “level, even, peaceful; to pacify.””
1st millennium BCE
Classical Chinese
南平
“The compound could be read literally as “southern peace” or “pacifying the south,” depending on context.”
6th–10th Century
Middle Chinese
南平
“The characters were pronounced approximately as *nam-pjæŋ in Middle Chinese, with the same basic morpheme meanings.”
Modern Chinese
Mandarin
Nánpíng 南平
“The modern Mandarin place name is pronounced Nánpíng and refers to Nanping in Fujian, China.”
Modern English
English
Nanping
“English uses Nanping as the standard romanized form of the Chinese proper noun.”